| Abstrakt: |
The Colorado River is in crisis - one deepening by the day. ¶ It is a powerhouse: a 1,450-mile waterway that stretches from the Rocky Mountains to the Sea of Cortez, serving 40 million people in seven U.S. states, 30 federally recognized tribes and Mexico. It hydrates 5 million acres of agricultural land and provides critical habitat for rare fish, birds and plants. ¶ But the Colorado's water was overpromised when it was first allocated a century ago. Demand in the fast-growing Southwest exceeds supply, and it is growing even as supply drops amid a climate change-driven megadrought and rising temperatures. ¶ States and cities are now scrambling to forestall the gravest impacts to growth, farming, drinking water and electricity, while also aiming to protect their own interests. ¶ In an emergency move last month, the federal government held back water from Lake Powell, the nation's second-largest reservoir, where the water is at a historic low. Days before, Las Vegas turned on a low-level pumping station that will deliver water from fast-drying Lake Mead, the largest U.S. reservoir, even if the Hoover Dam fails. ¶ Across the river basin, the tremors of this crisis are already being felt throughout communities that depend on the Colorado. ¶ The Washington Post traveled along the river, from its start to its finish, to examine how people and places are coping with a shrinking lifeline in a hotter and drier landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] |
