Cadillac Desert - Sahraweb.sahra.arizona.edu/education2/azwater/docs/reading_CD/CDch0I… ·...
Transcript of Cadillac Desert - Sahraweb.sahra.arizona.edu/education2/azwater/docs/reading_CD/CDch0I… ·...
Arizona Water Issues (c) 2010 ‐ The University of Arizona ‐ HWR203
Cadillac Desertby Marc Reisner
1986
IntroductionA Semidesert with a Desert Heart
“One does not really conquer a place like this. One inhabits it like an occupying army and makes, at best, an uneasy truce with it”
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Arizona Water Issues (c) 2010 ‐ The University of Arizona ‐ HWR203
What does Reisner think about over Utah?
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Morman agricultural innovation?
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CRB Salinity
55 ppm
800 ppm
www.coloradoriversalinity.org/4
Arizona Water Issues (c) 2010 ‐ The University of Arizona ‐ HWR203
www.coloradoriversalinity.org/
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Avg. Annual Precipitationwww.wrcc.dri.edu
6What is the significance of the 100th Meridian?
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Periodic Drought
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Arizona Water Issues (c) 2010 ‐ The University of Arizona ‐ HWR203
Water flows uphill to $$$
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Tehachapi Tunnel
Arizona Water Issues (c) 2010 ‐ The University of Arizona ‐ HWR203
Ogallala Aquifer
pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2001/fs-029-01/10
Arizona Water Issues (c) 2010 ‐ The University of Arizona ‐ HWR203
Population Growth
Source: www.census.gov/population/censusdata/urpop0090.txt
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Coronado’s Exploration
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Transcontinental RR
Chapman&Hall 1870 Map from cprr.org
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Salinity Sources Cyclic Salts and
Weathering RiparianTranspiration
AgriculturalTranspiration
Open WaterEvaporation
Saline Groundwaters
GeothermalEvaporites
Long Flowpaths
AgriculturalReturn Flow
Waste Water
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Natural Flow in Colo. River
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AHS Heat Zone Map
© www.ahs.org/publications/heat_zone_map.htmColors indicate number of days/yr above 86 F
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Arizona Water Issues (c) 2010 ‐ The University of Arizona ‐ HWR203
“Westerners call what they have established out here a civilization, but it would be more accurate to
call it a beachhead.”
Why?
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Favorite Quotes• “One does not really conquer a place like this. One inhabits it
like an occupying army and makes, at best, an uneasy truce with it”
• “By encouraging millions of people to leave the frigid Northwest, we could save a lot of imported oil; by doubling our agricultural exports, we could pay for the oil we import today”
• “As long as we maintain a civilization in a semidesert with a desert heart, the yearning to civilize more of it will always be there”
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Examples of programs run amok
– Salinity treaty with Mexico ‐ $600M + 40,000 kW– Westlands drainage– CA Central Valley Project & California Water Project– Lack of regulation over groundwater pumping– Basin dam accounting – Dams in general– NA Water and Power Alliance proposal
• Main Point: Despite heroic efforts, billions of dollars, and GW mining, we have just managed to keep a little area green
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