Got Water?

Trouble's brewing in Southern California, with urban residents and area farmers arguing over who should get how much water from the Colorado River.

On Friday, January 11, 2003, the Imperial Irrigation District, which provides local farmers with irrigation water, filed a lawsuit in federal court hoping to block a decision by the Secretary of the Interior that reduces the district's allocation from the river.

In December 2002, Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton ordered a reduction of about 7 percent in Imperial's water supply after a deal collapsed that would have transferred a similar amount of water from the Imperial Valley to neighboring San Diego County. She also reduced the amount of water supplying the Los Angeles area.

The tension over access to water in the West -- from the Colorado to the Rio Grande to the Platte and the Columbia -- began building soon after the West opened to homesteading in the late 1800s. The sharing of river water has been outlined by law and implemented through water storage and diversion projects, but even so, there's only so much fresh water to be tapped.

Some cities, like L.A., Phoenix and Albuquerque, have been desperately trying to secure more water for their booming populations, often by either illegally taking more than their share or by buying up water rights from farmers. Some are even preparing to float huge bags of it from northern Pacific Coast states.

Over the last few years, severely dry conditions, rapidly growing populations, the push for greater farm production, concern over endangered species, water pollution, and stricter enforcement of water rights, have made the war over Western water fiercer than ever.

In this week's lesson, you'll discover how this contest over Colorado River water first began and how various treaties and agreements have allocated water supplies. You'll also learn about the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency responsible for water projects, like the Hoover Dam, that store, release and divert water to consumers downstream.

Oases in the Desert

Your first stop is at the Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature at PBS. Read the introduction on the home page, then begin your exploration with Episode One: Mulholland's Dream, clicking Continued to move through the pages. What happened to the Los Angeles River? What steps did Mulholland take to get more water to L.A.?

Move into Episode Two: The American Nile, where you'll read about how dam construction projects changed where and how people could live in the southwest. What are some of the benefits of these dams and reservoirs? Do you think Las Vegas could be what it is today without its steady water supply?

In Episode Three: The Mercy of Nature, you'll read about how farm irrigation has made California's Central Valley prosperous and how that's changing. What did farmers do or not do that affected the land, wildlife and water quality? What influence do city and suburban populations have on farming operations?

The United States isn't the only country with water supply problems, however, as you'll discover in Episode Four: Last Oasis. What water quality and supply issues do India, China, Mexico, South America, and the Mid-East face? How are they different from the U.S.? What kinds of water conservation efforts can farmers use to maintain a healthy water supply? What can local residents in any area do to help?

Controlling Water in the West

Managing scarce water supplies can a be tough job. Often, people's lives and livelihoods depend on a steady stream for drinking, bathing, laundering, growing food, and so forth. But arguments over who has legal rights to portions of that stream are heard regularly in the courts, and enforcing these rights may mean that some homes, farms, shops and industries will eventually run out of water.

As an introduction into how some of these issues get worked out, start by reviewing the Law of the River for the Lower Colorado Region. Read the brief summaries of each agreement, from the Colorado River Compact of 1922 to the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act of 1974. For more in-depth explanations, click on each title for the PDF.

Can you identify the major players in these negotiations? How did each agreement address the rights of each group of consumers? What were some of the challenges faced in these negotiations? Why did the U.S. negotiate water rights with Mexico? What kinds of water projects were authorized and why were they important?

The Colorado River certainly isn't the only river in the West that crosses numerous legal, political, economic and social boundaries. For comparison, take a virtual tour of the Rio Grande watershed just east of the Colorado. You can see by the map that the river starts in southern Colorado then moves through New Mexico and runs along the shared border of Texas and Mexico.

As you hike from the Headwaters to the Elephant Butte Reservoir to the Gulf of Mexico, you'll see how the river water has been diverted for human use. In what ways do the various consumers use this water? If you compare one section of the river to another, does the river seem equally healthy from its headwaters to where it empties into the Gulf? Do you think any political, economic and social factors influence how well the river is cared for?

The Bureau of Reclamation

The Bureau of Reclamation is responsible for most of the major water projects in the West -- 180 of them across 17 states. As you'll read in A Brief History, the concept of "reclamation" was that these irrigation systems would "reclaim" dry land for human use. Why was this agency specifically created for the Western region?

You'll also read how the agency enjoyed a dam-building heyday, and how after 1988 their emphasis shifted to a different type of water management role. To learn more about them, stop by their Written in Water site, which provides an overview of what they do. Start with the Introduction: New Mission for a Changing West, and click on the Next link to move to the next section. Make sure to check out the Farming and Irrigation and Bringing Competing Interests Together. What are some of the duties of the Bureau of Reclamation? What kinds of people rely on irrigation and other diversion projects? If you had the authority, how would you prioritize the water supply to various consumer groups? What exactly would influence your decisions?

How would people have settled the land differently if irrigation had never been used in the West? How is the situation in the West situation different from that of the Midwest, East Coast or Southern regions?

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