Podcast
American Scandal
The book explores the grim conditions on the Colorado River, a water source for seven western states, and how the river's water was divvied up amongst those states, leading to current water scarcity issues.
The sort of the original threat and structural threat is that when the river was divided up by the states that depend on it, the scientists thought that there was more water in it than there actually...
— Episode: LA Steals Its Water | Crisis in the West...
Episode: LA Steals Its Water | Crisis in the West | 4
The book explores the grim conditions on the Colorado River, a water source for seven western states, and how the river's water was divvied up amongst those states, leading to current water scarcity issues.
The sort of the original threat and structural threat is that when the river was divided up by the states that depend on it, the scientists thought that there was more water in it than there actually is.
And so there was an overestimate of how much water is in it. And since then, the more direct threat right now is climate change.
People focus on Las Vegas because of all the cities that depend on the Colorado River. It's the closest. It's right there. Right. You know, it's very close to Lake Mead and the Colorado River.
But it's not. It's like, you know, you could get rid of those fountains in that lake and put it back in Lake Mead and the water level would rise by an amount you couldn't measure. It would be a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of an inch.
Whereas the states that draw water from it take huge amounts and measured in feet, tens of feet every year.
Episode: LA Steals Its Water | The Showdown | 3
The podcast host recommended this book to learn more about water issues in the American West and how cities are planning for the future given growing water scarcity.
In the next episode, I speak with David Owen, the author of Where the Water Goes, Life and Death Along the Colorado River.