"The Colorado River is an interconnected system, sustained by Rocky Mountain snowpack, rainfall and groundwater. It is fragile, and under increasing stress. Two and a half decades into this century, the river that built the modern West has 20% less water flowing through it than it did on average in the last century. As heat and drought intensify, so do the stakes: Failure to recognize the severity of changing conditions, managing the river in parts without considering needs of the whole and inadequate planning for long-term shortages put the future of all the basin at risk."
"For the last five years, I have documented how the Colorado River Basin's farmers are navigating water shortages and uncertainty amid deep political divisions about the river's future. This project, called American Adaptation, examines three agricultural communities whose survival is threatened by a shrinking river, examining what happens to people when policies and water management struggle to keep pace with a changing climate."
"In one of the river's northern watersheds, the Ute Mountain Farm and Ranch Enterprise is adapting its management as the water it relies on becomes less dependable. In central Arizona, farmers have returned to well water after becoming the first communities to have their supply cut off completely due to the basin-wide shortage. And in California's Imperial Valley, the farms that receive the river's largest water allocation are under growing pressure to share the burden of shortage."
The Colorado River has been managed for a century as separate legal and political entities rather than as an integrated system, despite functioning as an interconnected network dependent on snowpack, rainfall, and groundwater. The river now carries 20% less water than its historical average, creating severe stress as heat and drought intensify. Piecemeal management without considering basin-wide needs and inadequate long-term shortage planning jeopardize the entire region's future. A five-year documentation project called American Adaptation examines three agricultural communities facing existential threats from water scarcity: the Ute Mountain Farm and Ranch Enterprise in the north adapting to unreliable supplies, Arizona farmers returning to well water after complete supply cuts, and California's Imperial Valley farms pressured to share shortage burdens. These communities' experiences reveal escalating tensions in ongoing negotiations about the river's future management.
#colorado-river-management #water-scarcity-and-climate-change #agricultural-communities #basin-wide-water-policy #climate-adaptation
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