From RMSAWWA & RMWEA: How to Save the Colorado River and Other Tales

I just saw a copy of the November 2020 issue of the magazine Rocky Mountain Water, which is published by the Rocky Mountain Section of the AWWA and Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association. The issue has articles Impacts of Wildfires on Water Quality and Water Treatment (page 16) and How to Save the Colorado River (p. 25).

Download RMW__November_2020

Here is an electronic copy: click here.

I won't divulge the endings, but here is the last section of the Colorado River article.

Intuition vs. Facts

“The experiment is important to us,” Thompson said. “We want to make decisions based on the science and the data, not a gut feeling.”

Much of the work is grueling, like cutting hay samples week after week, and low tech, like measuring water levels in rain gauges.

But dramatic advances in satellite imagery and global evapotranspiration databases are helping people like Perry Cabot create science-based templates that eventually will be useful not just in Colorado, but Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and perhaps even farther downstream, on cotton fields in Arizona and avocado groves in California’s Central Valley.

“We now have the ability to measure the whole field, ” Cabot said. “It’s becoming more accurate and it’s tremendously convenient if you’re trying to get a good understanding of patterns. We don’t have to rely on one data point anymore.” [Editor’s note: Cabot sits on the board of Water Education Colorado, which is a sponsor of Fresh Water News.]

Enjoy!

"He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils." - Francis Bacon

Comments

[Elaine Hanford]

Hmmmm...
"He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils." - Francis Bacon

Perhaps it should be: He that created the evils, should not expect that he can create remedies that will be effective in undoing the damage he has done.