Fishing Forum

Should we start releasing Colorado River water to Mexico?

All water in a given system being fungible, how might this effect Lake Powell as a fishery which is already down out of the brush?

The men on this side of the border pretty much own that water. Should we share?

http://news.yahoo.com/man-made-flood-cou...00337.html
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Damn right we should. That's where it went first.
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[#0000FF]It's a good example of the battle over water that has existed forever. Those who have are reluctant to share with those who have not...especially when there are dwindling resources to begin with.

I lived in So. Cal during my earlier years and fished the Colorado River along much of its length. I also crossed the border (Mexico) and fished the lower Colorado...in the (former) marshlands at the top of the Sea of Cortez. There used to be meandering waterways and unending food and cover for both fish and wildfowl. It was a Garden of Eden...and eatin'.

All that was before the completion of Lake Powell and the shutting of the spigot on the Colorado River. That was the death knell for the lower Colorado River. Only during the flood years of 1983 and '84 did any more water actually reach the Gulf of California. And that was over quickly.

The reduced/eliminated flow of fresh water from the Colorado River also had a major impact on the ecology of the upper end of the Gulf. It was formerly rich with shrimp and many fish species. Some...like the big totuavas...would enter that zone for their annual spawning cycles. When the nutrient rich inflows were cut off, everything went downhill. The overall ecology in that area is much different...and not for the good.

I also lived in southern Arizona for about 20 years, from the early 80's until I moved back to Utah in 2004. I revisited some of my old fave spots both along the Colorado River and along the upper western side of the Sea of Cortez. Appalling. Still some decent fishing for some species...in the salt water...but no fresh water at all below the border.

By agreement between the countries, the US does allow a certain amount of Colorado River water to cross the border...for Mexican farmers. But after that water has been used and recycled multiple times by US interests it is almost too salty and chemical-laden to grow most crops. Much of it is merely runoff water after having been used to water Arizona's cotton fields or alfalfa. It leeches out a lot of salt from the nasty desert ground and picks up herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers before draining off the fields and back into the river. It is almost a good thing that all that stuff does not drain into the otherwise clean Sea of Cortez.

Should we allocate more water to Mexico? Sure. That would be a humanitarian thing to do. But then we have to decide who to short on this side of the border. Virtually every drop of Colorado River water is already spoken for...with a long line of folks who want to fight over anything that might not be taken by those who own it.


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The various states in the Colorado River watershed have had to deal with and pay for both the good and bad when it comes to Colorado River water. The moisture originates in these several states and it is theirs, period. Our population along this river corridor has grown tremendously and we need the water. Maybe we can send Mexico some of our water if they quit sending us illegal aliens.
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TubeDude, You have a pretty good handle on the Colorado River delta.

I grew up right on the border close to Yuma and still have property that I tend to down there.

I to spent alot of time down below the border camping, hunting and fishing as a kid and young man.. And my Dad did before that.

It is that the Delta or any of the lower Colorado,or the Sea of Cortez can never be brought back to what it was. Not going to happen.

I could be wrong but I am afraid the surge called for in the article above will have no positive effect for the ecology of the Colorado river delta. That is gone for ever.

Mexico DOES store water in Lake Mead that they can use as they see fit. But that is not the water these people wanting to do the study would like to use.

As far as you seeing the Garden of Eden of the lower Colorado I am sure it must have seemed that way to you. But I don't think most people have no clue what the lower Colorado was like at one time. {Before my time as well.}

For hundreds of miles north of the Sea of Cortez the Colorado river bottom was a huge Cottonwood tree forrest many miles across in a lot of places.

Almost all of those trees were cut down by indians and sold as fire wood. Thousands and thousands of acres.

The people and economy of Utah had a big hand in all that chopping in a not so round about way.

As far as the delta itself. The final nail was put in that coffin when water from the Colorado river was completely cut off below the border for almost 7 years starting in 1931, to fill Lake Mead.

Plus the couple of years that a canal accident made the Colorado flow north for a couple of years around 1914,, I think . [Salton sea.]

I love the Colorado river and could go on and on about it and all sorts of western water issues.

You might like this history.
http://www.historynet.com/paddle-wheeler...n-1852.htm
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