Politics Of The Colorado Flashcards
Cost
Costs involved in water management schemes run into billions of dollars
Dam construction, diverting channels, spillways, canals, HEP plants, pumping stations, irrigation systems, environmental protection, desalinisation and treatment plants
Buying land from the farmers, running of the facilities etc
All costs are shared between countries/states and so should be tightly regulated
Water Use
Conflicts arise over water allocation
Problems of pollution and salinity again as most of the water used along the Colorado will make its way back to the river system at some point
Water Allocation
Colorado river compact set up in 1922 - divided the Colorado river among seven western states according to population size
Compact amended in 1944 to include an allocation for Mexico
Each state and Mexico is given an amount of water - acre feet
Still debate between states on whether it should be based on population size or percentage of river basin within each state
Mexico - Issue
Mexico at the end of the system has to take what it can get as it has less economical power
Colorado no longer reaches the sea because of over use
Mexico receives less water than it should/did
Receives more saline/polluted
No fertile silt deposits (Trapped behind dams)
Mexico and the US finally agreed on an amount and quality for the Mexicans to receive but there are still issues after years
More issues
Gulf of California fishing grounds ruined - no water
Coastal towns have lost their economic status as River no longer reaches the sea
Desalinisation plant at Yuma - very expensive, not effective and not fully operating
Pollution
Pollution along the course of the Colorado as it flows through several states and an international border
Salinity is a major problem - increasing further downstream
All states have had to face up to the problems this has caused - tackling the problem brings the issue of engineering and cost
