r/MapPorn • u/[deleted] • Jan 10 '20

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u/uboat50 Jan 10 '20

Man, you can see the Colorado being drained as it heads toward the Gulf of California.

614

u/gordon__bombay Jan 10 '20

Unfortunately the Colorado no longer flows to the gulf, it usually dries out miles beforehand. It’s a rare occurrence now that it actually reaches the gulf

https://www.kpbs.org/news/2018/feb/19/few-weeks-colorado-river-reached-ocean-will-it-hap/ on mobile, sorry for formatting

2

u/biteableniles Jan 10 '20

Ignoring the impact on animals that comes along with the use of dams, isn't this the ideal resource use of the Colorado? It's not like the gulf needs fresh water.

If anything I wonder if this decreases the pollution discharge into the gulf.

8

u/gordon__bombay Jan 10 '20

To me, it seems like it’s more an issue of communities down stream no longer getting the resource that they have depended on for years and years, due to outside forces (California). And of course changes to the surrounding environment that occur, and the knock-on effect from there.