River
Colorado River
The river of the American south west, and the clearest example anywhere of a river allocated beyond its actual flow. In most years it no longer reaches the sea.
Key facts
- Length
- approximately 2,330 km
- Basin area
- approximately 640,000 km²
- Population supplied
- around 40 million
- Allocated under the 1922 Compact
- based on flows now known to have been unusually high
Why it matters
The 1922 Colorado River Compact divided the river on the basis of a measured period that later tree-ring reconstruction showed to have been among the wettest in centuries. The allocation therefore exceeded the river’s long-term average from the outset, a structural over-commitment that decades of drought and warming have made unavoidable. Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the two largest reservoirs in the United States, absorbed the deficit for decades before falling to record lows.
Relationships
- Located in: United States
Related intelligence
DC Watersame placeLake Meadsame placeOgallala Aquifersame placeMilwaukee Cryptosporidium outbreaksame placeFlint water crisissame placeJackson, Mississippi water system failuresame placeHurricane Katrina water and sanitation collapsesame placeFlint — criminal proceedings against state officialssame placeDuPont and Chemours — PFAS settlementssame place3M — PFAS public water system settlementsame placeDasanisame placeGoogle Council Bluffssame place
Sources
- World Wildlife Fund / McGill University — HydroSHEDS / HydroRIVERS / HydroLAKES / HydroBASINS. Open — attribution required · CC BY 4.0
- Global Water System Project — Global Reservoir and Dam Database. Open — attribution required · CC BY 4.0
- Peer-reviewed scientific literature — Open-access hydrology, water chemistry and water use research. Public but restricted · Publisher terms — public access, reuse not clearly granted