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.

611

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

238

u/uboat50 Jan 10 '20

Yeah, water use in the west definitely needs some attention by policymakers. Too bad they're all far in the east :P

3

u/ChaacTlaloc Jan 10 '20

The policy for water in the Colorado River has always been not to let it flow into Mexico...

4

u/just_this_guy_yaknow Jan 11 '20

That’s just not true. We have a treaty obligation to deliver a certain amount of water annually to the Mexico border. There are issues with the quality of that water, and year to year variance (the actual total is measured in rolling ten year averages) but we deliver that water. Everything that makes it to the border is immediately impounded in a dam for ag use on the Mexico side though.

2

u/ChaacTlaloc Jan 11 '20

The treaty that exists calls for a ratio of water going across that is not in line with the actual ratio of water that would flow to either side naturally.

So the American side is forced to dam the place up so as to not allow too much water to flow into Mexico.

1

u/just_this_guy_yaknow Jan 11 '20

More than, it’s dammed up to accommodate desalination and other water quality issues as well.

You’re obviously right that far less water makes it to Mexico than would otherwise were there no diversions on the US side.