Water Media
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Recommeded Readings, Viewings, and Listenings.
Harnessing Unconventional Water Resources in Urban Environments
An article that was written by our President, Max Sawyer, at the end of last year, discussing challenges faced by water managers in the urban West. This article is complemented nicely by the following two articles in this list that discuss water recycling solutions for Southern California.
(Click on the image to read the article).
A new source of water for Southern California
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Water authority looks at investment in Southern California water reuse project — in exchange for Colorado River water
The Regional Recycled Water Program, a partnership with the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, will purify wastewater to produce high-quality water that could be used again. The program will start with a demonstration facility and could eventually become one of the largest advanced water treatment plants in the world:
http://www.mwdh2o.com/DocSvcsPubs/rrwp/index.html
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The Southern Nevada Water Authority has expressed interest in helping finance a wastewater reuse project being pursued by Southern California’s municipal wholesale water provider.
The goal: To free up Colorado River water:
Rocky Mountain PBS Presents "Western Water -- And Power"
If you missed the screening event that we helped to host in the WCU University Center Theatre on February 25th you can watch the episode here!
This short documentary features a great overview of the rich history of water development in Colorado. We very highly recommend watching this film and sharing it with others!
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Film overview from RM PBS "Ever since Western settlers dreamed of deserts in bloom, men have chased the mirage of more water than these arid lands can provide. “Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting” describes the urgent struggle every generation of Coloradans faces to control this fleeting resource—creating hydrodynamic history through structures that can propel water to run uphill toward money, and power".
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Want to Protect Our Rivers? Raft Them
A great article published in Sunset Magazine one year ago that addresses why the Channel is promoting our research rafting thrip - The Maiden Voyage - this April.
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The value of recreation in the West is huge and cannot be lost when thinking about the future of our water supplies. Get out and know your rivers, connect with the water and the land.
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"Touch water and you touch all"
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Basin on the Brink
A fantastic short documentary produced by Western Master of Environmental Management graduate Sam Liebl. Give it a watch!
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"The Gunnison sage-grouse has withstood millennia of changes in Western Colorado. But now the species faces extinction as the invasive plant cheatgrass invades its last refuge—the remote Gunnison Basin. Basin residents now have a choice to make. Do they take drastic steps to combat cheatgrass? Or do they let cheatgrass-fueled wildfires snuff out a beautiful, bizarre and iconic species?"
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How Gunnison Irrigation Works with Jesse Kruthaupt
An introductory video for those of you in the Gunnison Valley.
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"Jesse Kruthaupt of Trout Unlimited demonstrates how irrigation infrastructure near Gunnison functions. The oldest water right in the Upper Gunnison Basin, the '75 Ditch, serves as an example of a diversion dam, head gate, and flume".
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Powell 150
A great website to explore and trailer to watch, this trip is one of the major influences for our very own Maiden Voyage!
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The Sesquicentennial Colorado River Exploring Expedition!
On May 24, 2019 a team of academics, graduate students, artists, authors, and journalists embarked on a 70 day, 1000 mile traverse of the Colorado River Basin. We completed our voyage on August 1. The work has just begun.
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Water Flows Together
A fantastic short film, well worth a watch!
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"For time immemorial, the Diné (Navajo) have considered the San Juan River sacred. Centuries-old stories and teachings connect the people with the river as it continues to serve as a physical and spiritual resource for the peoples who rely on it. Yet at the same time, economic and social barriers have kept the number of Native people recreating on the San Juan to a minimum, and trends of globalization and urbanization continue to widen the gap between many Navajo and the natural world".
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2°C: Beyond the limit
This giant climate hot spot is robbing the West of its water
Published in August 2020, this article is a sobering look into the future of water and agriculture on Colorado's West Slope. Give it a read and share your thoughts with us via email or social media, we would love to hear from you!
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"This cluster of counties on Colorado's Western Slope — along with three counties just across the border in eastern Utah — has warmed more than 2 degrees Celsius, double the global average. Spanning more than 30,000 square miles, it is the largest 2C hot spot in the Lower 48... The average flow of the Colorado River has declined nearly 20 percent over the past century, half of which is because of warming temperatures, scientists say. With the region’s snowpack shrinking and melting earlier, the ground absorbs more heat — and more of the precious water evaporates".
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The Hardest Working River in the West
A StoryMap Exploring the Colorado River Through Data
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We love to see explorative new ways of displaying data, and StoryMaps are a fantastic way to showcase all types of projects and maps and data!
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"Without the Colorado River, this would be a mighty empty land." — Bruce Babbitt
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"It is no secret that the Colorado River is stretched thin. In most years, the total demands on the river far exceed the amount of water that nature provides. While that is true of many other Western rivers, no other river in the West is put to quite the same scale, number, and complexity of uses relative to its size".
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In a rare bipartisan vote, Congress sends billions to the national parks
The Senate voted 80-17 to take up the Great American Outdoors Act, a bill championed by Senator Mark Warner! It will permanently finance the Land and Water Conservation Fund as well as address the $12 billion maintenance backlog at NPS locations across the U.S. This is a huge step!
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Let's hope for more national-level action going forward!
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Largest US dam removal stirs debate over coveted West water
A very controversial topic in the American West.
River conservation or water storage? It is a loaded question, but in the Pacific Northwest, we are seeing plans come together that will attempt to make these hard decisions.
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"KLAMATH, Calif. (AP) — The second-largest river in California has sustained Native American tribes with plentiful salmon for millennia, provided upstream farmers with irrigation water for generations and served as a haven for retirees who built dream homes along its banks.
With so many competing demands, the Klamath River has come to symbolize a larger struggle over the increasingly precious water resources of the U.S. West, and who has the biggest claim to them.
Now, plans to demolish four hydroelectric dams on the river’s lower reaches to save salmon — the largest such demolition project in U.S. history — have placed those competing interests in stark relief. Each group with a stake — tribes, farmers, ranchers, homeowners and conservationists — sees its identity in the Klamath and ties its future to the dams in deeply personal terms".
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High Country News
We are not highlighting a single story but rather encouraging you to read multiple in the magazine and on their website!
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We love reading High Country News articles, and with their satellite office located at the School of Environment and Sustainability building at Western Colorado University local journalism is only steps away!
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Support local journalism addressing topics from around the West at https://www.hcn.org/subscribe
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"High Country News is a nonprofit 501(c)3 independent media organization that covers the important issues and stories that define the Western United States. Our mission is to inform and inspire people to act on behalf of the West's diverse natural and human communities by providing unblinking journalism that shines a light on all of the complexities of the West."
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How to drink from the enormous lakes in the air
The first article in this list takes a look at unconventional water resources, this article supports that piece of writing.
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"But we’re not talking about clouds. This is the humidity in the air we breathe, that reappears as beads of water on the side of a cold drink, or as morning dew on blades of grass. And a technological race is underway to harvest it as drinking water. If the emerging ‘water from air’ (WFA) devices can crack it, it could go a long way towards solving the world’s freshwater problem".
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Congress Could Put Americans Back to Work Through Conservation
What an idea!
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This was one of the discussions at the inaugural Western Water Futures Games in 2019.
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What are your thoughts? Share them with us on social media or via email!
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"Why post-COVID economic recovery efforts should include investments in our public lands, fish and wildlife habitat, and outdoor recreation infrastructure".
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Questions Simmer About Lake Powell’s Future As Drought, Climate Change Point To A Drier Colorado River Basin
The topic that I think is on the mind of all water resource managers and advocates across the West; what is the future of our Colorado River Basin?
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Looking at the data that we have available and seeing that it is indicating a drier basin, we must ask how are we going to adapt and promote resiliency in the face of this change?
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"Sprawled across a desert expanse along the Utah-Arizona border, Lake Powell’s nearly 100-foot high bathtub ring etched on its sandstone walls belie the challenges of a major Colorado River reservoir at less than half-full. How those challenges play out as demand grows for the river’s water amid a changing climate is fueling simmering questions about Powell’s future".
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