Colorado River Pollution
Pollution in the Colorado River
By
Axia College
The Colorado River supplies water to most of the southwestern United States and despite this fact, pollution levels are continually rising and in some cases above acceptable limits. The Colorado River supplies and runs through five states and during some parts of the year to the Mexican border. During the rivers journey various types of pollutants come into contact to with it degrading the water quality downstream. The river water benefits humans in multiple ways the first obvious answer is by drinking it. Farming and other agricultural uses demand 60% and sometimes as much as 90% of its water. Using polluted water for irrigation passes the contaminants into the crops and ultimately onto our dinner tables.
Water is scarce in the southwestern United States and water is essential for human survival. The Colorado River is the primary reason why the southwest can sustain the massive population in the region. Without this “lifeline” of freshwater, we must find another means of supplying water to millions. Desalinizing the water from the Pacific Ocean is not yet cost effective enough to handle the demand although about 8% to 10% of the water supplied to Southern California comes from desalinization plants.
Every year the government allocates more water from the Colorado River that is unrelated to human survival. According to an article in the San Diego Union Tribune “Oil and natural-gas drilling in Colorado requires so much water that if its annual demand were satisfied all at once, it would be the equivalent of shutting off most of Southern California's water for five days.” (Hasemyer, 2008). During his term, President Bush authorized more drilling in Colorado than at any time since 1984. With these types of policies taking hold of the river one must ask the question, what is more important energy or life? The construction of the various dams along the Lower Colorado River system allowed small
By
Axia College
The Colorado River supplies water to most of the southwestern United States and despite this fact, pollution levels are continually rising and in some cases above acceptable limits. The Colorado River supplies and runs through five states and during some parts of the year to the Mexican border. During the rivers journey various types of pollutants come into contact to with it degrading the water quality downstream. The river water benefits humans in multiple ways the first obvious answer is by drinking it. Farming and other agricultural uses demand 60% and sometimes as much as 90% of its water. Using polluted water for irrigation passes the contaminants into the crops and ultimately onto our dinner tables.
Water is scarce in the southwestern United States and water is essential for human survival. The Colorado River is the primary reason why the southwest can sustain the massive population in the region. Without this “lifeline” of freshwater, we must find another means of supplying water to millions. Desalinizing the water from the Pacific Ocean is not yet cost effective enough to handle the demand although about 8% to 10% of the water supplied to Southern California comes from desalinization plants.
Every year the government allocates more water from the Colorado River that is unrelated to human survival. According to an article in the San Diego Union Tribune “Oil and natural-gas drilling in Colorado requires so much water that if its annual demand were satisfied all at once, it would be the equivalent of shutting off most of Southern California's water for five days.” (Hasemyer, 2008). During his term, President Bush authorized more drilling in Colorado than at any time since 1984. With these types of policies taking hold of the river one must ask the question, what is more important energy or life? The construction of the various dams along the Lower Colorado River system allowed small
Bibliography: CA, S., BC, B., L, V.-B., & RI, K. (2007). Perchlorate, thiocyanate, and nitrate in edible cole crops produced in the lower Colorado River region. Bulletin Of Environmental Contamination And Toxicology , 655-659. EP, G., KW, F., MJ, C., PL, N., K, R., & F, Z.-A. (2007). Just add water and the Colorado River still reaches the sea. Environmental Management , 1-6 . Hasemyer, A. L. (2008, December 21). Colorado River may face fight of its life. Retrieved December 13, 2009, from signonsandiego.com: http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2008/dec/21/1n21colorado211057-colorado-river-may-face-fight-i/ Unknown. (2008, August). Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Retrieved December 15, 2009, from Center for Disease Control: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/phs150.html#bookmark05 Unknown. (2009, January 21). Clean Colorado River Alliance. Retrieved December 15, 2009, from Arizona Department of Environmental Quality: http://www.azdeq.gov/environ/water/ccra.html Unknown. (2009, June 4). Degraded Lower Colorado River Needs Federal Help to Recover. Retrieved December 15, 2009, from Environment News Service: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2009/2009-06-03-095.asp Unkown. (2009). American Rivers - Southwest. Retrieved December 15, 2009, from americanriveers.org: http://www.americanrivers.org/your-region/southwest/