week 3 running water

The Colorado River is one of the principal rivers in the Southwestern of the United States and Northern Mexico. It is 1,450-miles-long (approximately 2,330 km) and it drains an expansive, arid watershed. The Colorado River starts in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado, going towards southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through the Grand Canyon, before reaching Lake Mead, on the Arizona-Nevada border. After entering Mexico, the river approaches the mostly dry Colorado River Delta.

The river and its tributaries are controlled by an extensive system of dams, reservoirs, and aqueducts, which in most years divert its entire flow for agricultural irrigation and domestic water supply.

The main perennial streams feeding into the Colorado (such as Kanab and Havasu creeks, the Little Colorado River and the Paria River) are related to large perennial spring systems on both the north and south sides of the Canyon. However, most of the water sources are intermittent or ephemeral in nature. The availability of water in these individual systems is closely related to geologic structure, seasonality and annual precipitation. Specific geologic layers, such as the Muav limestone, are the most common sources for these perennial waters.

Snwa.com. (2019).The Colorado River. [online] Available at: https://www.snwa.com/where-southern-nevada-gets-its-water/the-colorado-river/index.html  [Accessed 21 Jul. 2019].