Download or read book Science Be Dammed written by Eric Kuhn and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2019-11-26 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Science Be Dammed is an alarming reminder of the high stakes in the management—and perils in the mismanagement—of water in the western United States. It seems deceptively simple: even when clear evidence was available that the Colorado River could not sustain ambitious dreaming and planning by decision-makers throughout the twentieth century, river planners and political operatives irresponsibly made the least sustainable and most dangerous long-term decisions. Arguing that the science of the early twentieth century can shed new light on the mistakes at the heart of the over-allocation of the Colorado River, authors Eric Kuhn and John Fleck delve into rarely reported early studies, showing that scientists warned as early as the 1920s that there was not enough water for the farms and cities boosters wanted to build. Contrary to a common myth that the authors of the Colorado River Compact did the best they could with limited information, Kuhn and Fleck show that development boosters selectively chose the information needed to support their dreams, ignoring inconvenient science that suggested a more cautious approach. Today water managers are struggling to come to terms with the mistakes of the past. Focused on both science and policy, Kuhn and Fleck unravel the tangled web that has constructed the current crisis. With key decisions being made now, including negotiations for rules governing how the Colorado River water will be used after 2026, Science Be Dammed offers a clear-eyed path forward by looking back. Understanding how mistakes were made is crucial to understanding our contemporary problems. Science Be Dammed offers important lessons in the age of climate change about the necessity of seeking out the best science to support the decisions we make.
Download or read book The Colorado River Compact written by Reuel Leslie Olson and published by . This book was released on 1926 with total page 570 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Cornerstone at the Confluence written by Jason A. Robison and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2022-11-08 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Signed on November 24, 1922, the Colorado River Compact is the cornerstone of a proverbial pyramid—an elaborate body of laws colloquially called the “Law of the River” that governs how human beings use water from the river system dubbed the “American Nile.” No fewer than forty million people have come to rely on the Colorado River system in modern times—a river system immersed in an unprecedented, unrelenting megadrought for more than two decades. Attempting to navigate this “new normal,” policymakers are in the midst of negotiating new management rules for the river system, a process coinciding with the compact’s centennial that must be completed by 2026. Animated by this remarkable confluence of events, Cornerstone at the Confluence leverages the centennial year to reflect on the compact and broader “Law of the River” to envision the future. It is a volume inviting dialogue about how the Colorado River system’s flows should be apportioned given climate change, what should be done about environmental issues such as ecosystem restoration and biodiversity protection, and how long-standing issues of water justice facing Native American communities should be addressed. In one form or another, all these topics touch on the concept of “equity” embedded within the compact—a concept that tees up what is perhaps the foundational question confronted by Cornerstone at the Confluence: Who should have a seat at the table of Colorado River governance?
Download or read book Water and the West written by Norris Hundley and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2009-05-15 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Back in print for the first time in over ten years, this classic account of the numerous struggles—national, state, and local—that have occurred over western American water rights since the late 1800s is thoroughly expanded and updated to trace the continuing battles raging over the West's most valuable, and contentious, resource.
Download or read book Minutes of Colorado River Compact Commission written by Colorado River Compact Commission and published by . This book was released on 1922 with total page 1220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Colorado River Question written by Arizona. Colorado River Commission and published by . This book was released on 1928 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Upper Colorado River Basin Compact written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Public Lands and published by . This book was released on 1949 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Colorado River written by United States. Bureau of Reclamation and published by . This book was released on 1946 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Contested Waters written by April R. Summit and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2012-02-15 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "To fully understand this river and its past, one must examine many separate pieces of history scattered throughout two nations--seven states within the United States and two within Mexico--and sort through a large amount of scientific data. One needs to be part hydrologist, geologist, economist, sociologist, anthropologist, and historian to fully understand the entire story. Despite this river's narrow size and meager flow, its tale is very large indeed." —From the conclusion The Colorado River is a vital resource to urban and agricultural communities across the Southwest, providing water to 30 million people. Contested Waters tells the river's story-a story of conquest, control, division, and depletion. Beginning in prehistory and continuing into the present day, Contested Waters focuses on three important and often overlooked aspects of the river's use: the role of western water law in its over-allocation, the complexity of power relationships surrounding the river, and the concept of sustainable use and how it has been either ignored or applied in recent times. It is organized in two parts, the first addresses the chronological history of the river and long-term issues, while the second examines in more detail four specific topics: metropolitan perceptions, American Indian water rights, US-Mexico relations over the river, and water marketing issues. Creating a complete picture of the evolution of this crucial yet over-utilized resource, this comprehensive summary will fascinate anyone interested in the Colorado River or the environmental history of the Southwest.
Download or read book Colorado River Basin written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation and published by . This book was released on 1923 with total page 976 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Colorado River Compact written by Colorado River Commission and published by . This book was released on 1923 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Colorado River Basin Water Management written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2007-06-30 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent studies of past climate and streamflow conditions have broadened understanding of long-term water availability in the Colorado River, revealing many periods when streamflow was lower than at any time in the past 100 years of recorded flows. That information, along with two important trends-a rapid increase in urban populations in the West and significant climate warming in the region-will require that water managers prepare for possible reductions in water supplies that cannot be fully averted through traditional means. Colorado River Basin Water Management assesses existing scientific information, including temperature and streamflow records, tree-ring based reconstructions, and climate model projections, and how it relates to Colorado River water supplies and demands, water management, and drought preparedness. The book concludes that successful adjustments to new conditions will entail strong and sustained cooperation among the seven Colorado River basin states and recommends conducting a comprehensive basinwide study of urban water practices that can be used to help improve planning for future droughts and water shortages.
Download or read book Colorado River Documents 2008 Hardcover Book and Autoloading DVD written by Katherine Ott Verburg and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2011-01-06 with total page 960 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses the history of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's operation and management of the Colorado River on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior from 1979 through 2008. Details the political, legal, institutional, and other instruments developed to address pressing issues faced by Colorado River Basin water users and managers. Reflective of its era, the 2008 volume has an increased focus on coordinated operations of the river in both the Upper and Lower Basins, on environmental matters, on the relationship with Mexico, and on Native American water settlements.
Download or read book Where the Water Goes written by David Owen and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-04-11 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Wonderfully written…Mr. Owen writes about water, but in these polarized times the lessons he shares spill into other arenas. The world of water rights and wrongs along the Colorado River offers hope for other problems.” —Wall Street Journal An eye-opening account of where our water comes from and where it all goes. The Colorado River is an essential resource for a surprisingly large part of the United States, and every gallon that flows down it is owned or claimed by someone. David Owen traces all that water from the Colorado’s headwaters to its parched terminus, once a verdant wetland but now a million-acre desert. He takes readers on an adventure downriver, along a labyrinth of waterways, reservoirs, power plants, farms, fracking sites, ghost towns, and RV parks, to the spot near the U.S.–Mexico border where the river runs dry. Water problems in the western United States can seem tantalizingly easy to solve: just turn off the fountains at the Bellagio, stop selling hay to China, ban golf, cut down the almond trees, and kill all the lawyers. But a closer look reveals a vast man-made ecosystem that is far more complex and more interesting than the headlines let on. The story Owen tells in Where the Water Goes is crucial to our future: how a patchwork of engineering marvels, byzantine legal agreements, aging infrastructure, and neighborly cooperation enables life to flourish in the desert—and the disastrous consequences we face when any part of this tenuous system fails.
Download or read book Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 908 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Official Record written by Upper Colorado River Basin Compact Commission and published by . This book was released on 1948 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Discussion of Certain Colorado River Problems written by George Edson Philip Smith and published by . This book was released on 1925 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
