Week 0: It Started With a Fake War
Arwen H -
Hey guys!
My research project focuses on the seemingly grim future of water management in the Colorado River. My interest in this topic all started before I was born. Specifically, 62 years ago in 1963 when the final decision of the Arizona v. California water rights court case was released. When news of this resurfaced a few years ago however, middle school me who knew nothing about politics or the news thought that we were going to war with California. After further investigation, I obviously realized that this wasn’t the case, and was thrown into a whirlwind of water rights, declining water levels, and a possible future without water.
That brings me to the specific focus of my project. In August of 2024, the USDA invested $400 million to help irrigation districts throughout the west save water while continuing production in an attempt to conserve water resources. This was in response to continued declining water levels in the Colorado River that are predicted to lead to Lake Mead, one of the river’s main reservoirs, reaching dead pool by THIS YEAR. This means that water will no longer be able to flow to the people who need it (this includes us)!
Through surveying these irrigation districts, I hope to determine the long term effectiveness of the investment in order to hopefully aid future policymakers attempting to save the Colorado River.
So follow my journey (the specific details of which will be coming in the next post) and together we can see if the newest effort in saving the Colorado River will actually work, or if it’s already too late…
P.S. take this as your motivation to understand the news so you DON’T end up thinking we’re entertaining a war with California!
Till next time!