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Where the Water Goes

Life and Death Along the Colorado River
Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Pima County Public Library.
Aug 09, 2017PimaLib_NormS rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
You know what? Water is way more complicated than I ever imagined. A 2018 Tucson Festival of Books presenting author, David Owen, in “Where The Water Goes: Life And Death Along The Colorado River”, follows the water of the great river, beginning at the headwaters and ending at the drying up delta in Mexico. Snow melts, the river forms, the water in the river is used by people for a myriad of things, what’s so complicated about it? Here’s an example: A farmer irrigates his fields by flooding them with his legally recognized allotment of Colorado River water. Then he decides that is a wasteful way to use the water, so he installs a sprinkler system, thereby reducing his water usage. Great, right? Well, yes and no. The farmer does save water by using the sprinklers. But, what of his neighbor, whose land benefited from the flood irrigation runoff? The neighbor will have to pump more and more water on to his fields. And, what about the nearby wetlands that would not exist without the runoff? And, if all the farms along the Colorado River reduced their water consumption, wouldn’t the water saved just go to Denver, and Los Angeles, and Phoenix, and Las Vegas, and Tucson, encouraging more urban sprawl, leading to more water use? In this scenario, has anything truly been saved? I’m not advocating for flood irrigation, I’m just saying that the use of water, specifically Colorado River water, is not as simple as it may seem. David Owen explains it so that even I can begin to understand. He learned a lot from his research, and by reading his informative book, I did too.