Who Killed the Colorado River?

This episode explores the mystery of the vanishing Colorado River Delta. Once a lifeline for the American Southwest, it's now a shadow of its former self. What happened? Outdated water laws? Excessive urban development and agriculture? Is there a possibility for restoration? Let's investigate.

Hosted by Joe Hanson from Be Smart, Overview uses stunning 4k drone footage to reveal the natural and human-made marvels shaping our planet--from a 10,000-foot view--literally.

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[pufthemajicdragon]

As a resident of Colorado, I'm in a few gardening-related local social media groups. It's appalling how many people move here and try to grow things like they could in the midwest or pacific northwest. They pour thousands of gallons into their lawns and non-native gardens and then wonder why their utility bill is so high and why their garden is still dying. You moved to a desert people. You need to learn to live like a Fremen.
And don't get me started on the exported cattle feed and terrible water rights management. I have SO many feelings.

[Kokally]

You think this is bad, wait until you look into the depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer. A fifth of America's agriculture is reliant on it and it'll be depleted in the next 50 years.

[Pinkomy]

Please revive the Colorado River. It is a beautiful river with very cold water. If this river disappears, we are doomed in this country.

[daniels]

Doesn't help that you have people moving into the desert from wetter places and just assuming that "The Government" can magically provide water to transform the desert to look like the Southeast. People move in and want lawns, trees, golf courses, swimming pools, and more. That's before you even get to "minor" details like drinking water, which they also assume "The Government" can magically create.

[johnperic]

10:30 What's the worst about the Alfalfa and Lettuce production in the Colorado River Basin is that it only contributes to something like 5% of the nation's supply.

It's entirely unnecessary. Even if we were to completely get rid of alfalfa and lettuce farms in the Southwest, it would have almost no impact on their availability nationwide, including for cattle.

We're sacrificing our most endangered and of our most important rivers for something that isn't even necessary.

[brandnewyou]

Thank you for such a straightforward video I really like the style of the video and I really appreciate your candor

[RadioactvPanda]

Don't forget that corporations own land in arizona where they can pump groundwater unmetered as long as they own that land. The Colorado River is mostly used to resupply these reservoirs. Great video!!

[Baustin]

Desert golf courses and alfalfa farms be like, "My river, my water, and if I continue: my dune."

[YaowBucketHEAD]

I used to live in New Mexico and I'll be 100% honest saying that the water situation/droughts scared the hell out of me.

Everyone I knew did not care and paid it no mind expecting the government to "figure it out", but with larger populations, it only puts more stress on an exhausted water supply.

I actually loved living in the desert, and made every effort to conserve and wisely use water, but I was one of the very few.

I got out of there. I don't see how this problem becomes a disaster in the future.

[EnvisionedBlindness]

*27 year old, Yuma native here:*

Most of the species that used to be found in Our wetlands have long since disappeared due to the destruction of the rivers flow. We were once natural and thriving desert oasis but now we are just a wannabe Phoenix. Every time we’ve accomplished any restoration, it’s given the green light to destroy more rather than continue. It’s very disheartening to see. I’ve watched so much be lost just since my teenage years

Edit: just drove past a large section of wilderness that was located beneath the mesa that our hospital sits on and discovered it cleared and under development for construction

[kallehalvarsson]

The most infuriating thing to me about the dam projects on the river is how much of that energy is spent on the most energy-wasting city in the workd: Las Vegas. The Sphere uses as much power as 23, 000 households. The laser on top of the Luxor tower uses as much as 230 households, just beaming power into the sky.

[davidhill]

I’ve read once that the Colorado River was once one of the most beautiful places in the United States. Congress commission a U.S. army officer to go on an expedition in the 19th century and he came back and said that the west was a totally different country and shouldn’t be sold in square lots and that besides the Colorado River there wasn’t huge availability of water. Well they ignored him and then built the dams which destroy the beautiful canyons and ecosystems in them with beavers and all kinds of wildlife and now we’re here. We really should get rid of that alfalfa or at least punish them for leaving the water on. Just waste fraud and abuse at its finest. I saw a lot of it in the army as well.

[cougar]

The use it or lose it water rights are a brilliant way of ensuring water is going to be wasted, meaning it ensures water is being used unnecessarily just to keep the right to use it.

[Virtuous_Rogue]

Something the video doesn't mention, the 1922 interstate compact set its allocation numbers based on average flow of the previous 10 years. Turns out those 10 years were the wettest 10 years in the West in the entire time we've been measuring it.

[Nitemare-ex]

Reporter: “What happened?”
Rodriguez: “We happened “
Me: 🤦🏻‍♂️ why do people ask questions that they already know the answers to.

[bigjared]

A geologist fellow named John Wesley Powell predicted this nearly 2 centuries ago. He was shouted down by land speculators and the Manifest Destiny ideology of the time.

[karen]

This is why I left Arizona. I grew up there. And year after year no politician there had the guts to start addressing the looming water crisis in a meaningful way. In fact they did the opposite. And encouraged the cities to grow and encouraged people to move there. This past year it is coming to a head, the federal government gave an ultimatum to the states utilizing Colorado River water to divi up what was projected to be available to them or the federal government would allocate the water themselves. As the globe warms the drought in the southwest is only going to get worse and the water crisis will continue and worsen. If you are thinking about moving there. Don’t. At some point you will go thirsty.

[snookmeister]

The Emerald Mile is a good book about the river, although I suppose it's dated with respect to severe water shortages. As an easterner, I found the three deserts to be rather baren and hostile. Great experience to have, once, rafting 188 miles of the Colorado.

[kevinsellsit]

You mentioned the beautiful green golf courses we have so many of in Phoenix...they are apparently very important because if you look at the school yards you just see dirt.
Why golf courses are a better use of our water than school yards that were once grass, I'm not sure.

[TheHonestPeanut]

Imagine knowing all of this and STILL thinking you deserve all the water you want to grow non native crops. Saying people don't care about "working farmers" as you demand the right to destroy your neighbors wells while complaining about government over reach... Nuts.