The Colorado River

My travel buddy and I stand on the banks of the mighty Colorado, in awe of its beauty and its importance.  This river is the life blood to the Southwest.  Its veins and capillaries spread out to provide water to 40 million people--ourselves included.

We ponder its 1,450 mile journey.  It originates at 10,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and flows southwest through Utah and the Grand Canyon.  Between the borders of Arizona and California, it turns south finally making its way into the Sea of Cortez.  It sounds like a wondrous act of nature, but in truth, this river is the most managed one in the world.  There are 29 dams along its route, and shares of the water are bought and sold like stock.  There have been heated court battles between the states of California and Arizona over allocations and rights.  In today's world, by the time it reaches the delta near Mexico its blood has been sucked dry.  If there is any water left, it is from agricultural run off.  Even scarier, is that severe shortages of water for our area have been predicted by mid-century.

We walk along the river south of Lake Havasu.  It's beautiful despite the speed boats and campers.  At this location, people are here for fun and the river provides it. There are many license plates from Canada and the Midwest, snow birds who have come to Arizona for the winter.  And then it hits me.  The Colorado River feeds so much more than the Southwest--at times an entire nation!  Today, we fight wars for oil.  In the future, it will be for water!