The Colorado River is one of the principal rivers in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river and its tributaries are controlled by an extensive system of dams, reservoirs, and aqueducts. Intensive water consumption has dried up the lower 100 miles of the river, which has rarely reached the sea since the 1960s. The environmental movement in the American Southwest has opposed the damming and diversion of the Colorado River system.
About Colorado River in brief
The Colorado River is one of the principal rivers in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The 1,450-mile-long river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states. The river and its tributaries are controlled by an extensive system of dams, reservoirs, and aqueducts. Intensive water consumption has dried up the lower 100 miles of the river, which has rarely reached the sea since the 1960s. The environmental movement in the American Southwest has opposed the damming and diversion of the Colorado River system because of detrimental effects on the ecology and natural beauty of the rivers and tributary. The Colorado is now considered among the most controlled and litigated rivers in the world, with every drop of its water fully allocated. Most of the major dams were built between 1910 and 1970; the system keystone, Hoover Dam, was completed in 1935. After passing through the Grand Canyon, the Colorado emerges from the Rockies into the Grand Valley, a major farming and ranching region where it meets the Gunnison River. After short run south, the river turns west below Grand Lake Pass, the largest natural lake in the state, for the first 250 miles of its course. Most of its largest tributings, including the Blue, Eagle and Roaring Fork rivers, as well as larger ones including the De Beque River, are as large as larger than the Colorado itself. As it flows southwest, it gains strength from many small tributARY, including many small ones as well, including larger ones such as the Blue and Eagle Roaring River, and as larger as the Grand River.
It reaches Lake Mead on the Arizona–Nevada border, where it turns south toward the international border. After entering Mexico, it approaches the mostly dry Colorado River Delta at the tip of the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora. It is known for its dramatic canyons, whitewater rapids, and eleven U. S. National Parks, and is a vital source of water for 40 million people. The Colorado begins at La Poudre in the Southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado, at 10,184 ft above sea level. It flows generally southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through theGrand Canyon before reaching Lake Mead before reaching the border with Mexico. Its large flow and steep gradient are used for generating hydroelectric power, and its major dams regulate peaking power demands in much of the Intermountain West. Most native peoples that inhabit the region today are descended from other groups that settled there beginning about 1,000 years ago. The region was home to large agricultural civilizations, which eventually declined due to a combination of severe drought and poor land use practices. In the 16th century, explorers from Spain began mapping and claiming the area, which became part of Mexico upon its independence in 1821. Early contact between Europeans and Native Americans was generally limited to the fur trade in the headwaters and sporadic trade interactions.
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This page is based on the article Colorado River published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 08, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
