The Colorado River Is Dying - And It Could Crash The Economy | Answers With Joe

happy new year everybody it's 2022 and i sincerely hope that you've gotten a good start to this year and the 2022 brings you all the success and happiness you could possibly imagine one way that many farmers in arizona has started out this year is by losing their crops due to massive water restrictions that is essentially making them the canary in the coal mine for a massive ecological disaster come on you got like 10 seconds of happiness there what else did you expect lake mead which straddles arizona and nevada and provides water and power for millions of people is currently at only 35 full it's literally the lowest the lake has ever been since the hoover dam was built in 1931. it's been going down for a while but just a few months ago in august of 2021 the federal government declared a water shortage on the colorado river for the first time ever and with that came restrictions on arizona farmers that would go into effect in january of 2022 or in other words now but there's a reason for all this concern the colorado river is dying and it's dying fast and if nothing is done about it this could be the beginning of an ecological disaster that could permanently reshape large swaths of the united states [Music] there are a lot of things in life that are profoundly important to us but we spend an insanely small amount of time thinking about it's just one of those modern conveniences that we've all gotten used to and we've become spoiled by things like how our electricity is generated where the trash goes how the microwave works and where our water comes from because we don't see the full life cycle of the resources we consume we remain blissfully ignorant of it until it's not there anymore and that's when little things start to happen like you know society collapsing which is why that water shores declaration is a big deal it's basically changed the government stance on it from a position of well you know maybe something will happen to okay we need to make something happen the declaration will reduce arizona's water supply by 20 or 512 000 acre feet by the way an acre foot is around 325 000 gallons which is enough water for two or three homes for an entire year reductions are mandated for arizona nevada and also some parts of mexico and what this means for some farmers in arizona especially in pinault county is that they're gonna just leave some crops unplanted this year these same farmers are expecting their entire water supply to be cut off in 2023 and that could happen if lake mead's water level drops below 320 meters above sea level that would prompt some further restrictions according to jennifer pitt of the national audubon society quote as this inexorable seeming decline in the supply continues the shortages that we're beginning to see implemented are only going to increase once we're on that train it's not clear where it stops these are drastic measures that will financially impact thousands of farmers but the fact of the matter is 25 million people rely on lake mead for their water supply overall the colorado river supplies water for 40 million americans that's 12 percent of the entire u.s population what happens if the colorado river affects almost every major western u.s city 30 native american tribes 5.5 million acres of farmland in certain parts of mexico and the flow of that all too important river has declined by 20 in the last century according to the u.s geological survey and more than half of that decline is due to rising temperatures across the region the study also found that without significant reductions to greenhouse gas emissions it could go down a further 31 percent by the year 2050. this is a climate crisis playing out in real time so what can be done about it how did we get here you know how you guys are always begging me to do more videos about river systems and the minutia of interstate water compacts well guess what your day has come the colorado river is a massive system of rivers and tributaries that flows through seven states across 2 300 kilometers from colorado to the sea of cortez and it plays such a significant part in the ecology of that region that it's often called the lifeline of the southwest the river begins at la pudra pass in the rocky mountains in colorado at 10 184 feet above sea level where it's fed by melting snow in the mountains unsurprisingly it's very close to the continental divide rivers to the west flow toward the pacific those in the east flow toward the atlantic from its headwaters it flows south and feeds grand lake shadow mountain lake and lake granby then cuts across western colorado through grand junction before it enters utah and starts carving up the southwest through arches national park moab the canyonlands glen canyon before collecting into lake powell from there it goes on to form marble canyon before the mother of them all the grand canyon shortly after that it forms lake mead passes through the hoover dam and flows south eventually feeding lake mojave in lake havasu it then continues flowing south creating the border between arizona and california before it enters mexico at yuma and eventually ends its journey in the gulf of cortez this river has not only created and shaped some of the most beautiful natural landscapes in the world it crosses a wide range of natural environments and ecosystems alpine tundra at its head waters through semi-arid plateaus and canyons to arid deserts in the lower basin it's one of the most heavily developed rivers in the world and that's nothing new people have been using this for agriculture for thousands of years the ute and southern paiute indian tribes hunted and gathered in the plateaus and canyonlands and the hohokam indians in the lower basin built the largest prehistoric irrigation system in western america on the gila and salt rivers there's also the yuman tribes who did extensive floodplain farming along the colorado river it's also gone by many names over the years various native american tribes called it tomici not uncarre or iconique spanish explorers in the 16th century call it rio del tison which translates to rivers of embers or firebrand river some maps later named at the rio colorado de los muertos and the rio de cosinis de raphael kind of tying its characteristic red water with the blood of martyrs settlers in the 1800s named it the grand river possibly because it's the river that flows through the grand canyon and though colorado became a us state in 1876 the river didn't go by that state's name until 1921. when u.s representative edward t taylor from colorado pushed for congress to change the name of the grand river to the colorado river because it should have the same name as the state where it begins congress approved that name change in the same year which means that officially the colorado river turned 100 years old last year i bet you didn't even send it a birthday card you monster i didn't send one last year either but we probably should have the colorado river irrigates 15 percent of crop output in the united states and 13 of livestock for example pumped water irrigates planes in northern colorado that feeds alfalfa and oats that go for livestock production and water pumped to southern california feeds vegetable crops that wind up in stores and restaurants all across the united states yeah if you live in the u.s chances are you ate something today that was made possible by the colorado river with so much at stake and so many people affected over such a wide area it should be no surprise that there have been a lot of water treaties over the colorado river the colorado river compact of 1922 divided the river into the upper and lower compact states at the time of the agreement the river was estimated to hold 16.5 million acre feet of water this was at lee's ferry which was the dividing point between the upper and lower compact states so in the agreement they agreed to split 15 million acre feet of water between the upper and lower compact states i guess 15 million being a nice round conservative number and later on in 1944 another treaty allocated 1.5 million acre feet to mexico lake powell feeds the upper compact states that was formed by the glen canyon dam and lake mead feeds the lower states created of course by the hoover dam the hoover dam also supplies almost all the electricity that powers the sights and sounds of las vegas all in all the colorado river has 15 dams providing power for cities all along its path and forming reservoirs that hold more than four times the river's annual flow and his tributaries have hundreds more dams to do the same for smaller towns and municipalities but going back to that 1922 compact it turns out that that estimate of 15 million acre feet of water was actually kind of skewed it turns out that the years leading up to the compact were an abnormally wet period so there was actually less water available than the compact specified this led to tight regulation of the hydrology in the region which is why in some states like colorado it's very heavily regulated as to whether or not you can actually collect rain water off your house because it's kind of like you're you're stealing water from a state that has been promised that water by treaty now in contrast to those abnormally wet years pre the compact being signed and everything since the year 2000 the colorado river has been experiencing a historic drought sure the river's always had dry and wet times but the last 20 years or so has been the driest the basin has seen in 1200 years based on tree ring and geological data and the major factor behind this historic drought take a wild guess climate change it's climate change according to studies by scientists at colorado state university and the university of california los angeles 53 of the loss in the river can be blamed on warmer temperatures warmer temperatures that reduce the amount of snowpack in the upper mountains in colorado less snowpack less melt water less river also warmer temperatures cause plants to intake more water to kind of try to prevent dehydration and also the warmer temperatures obviously cause more evaporation in the water as well and the other 47 percent of the loss is blamed on shifts and precipitation patterns as in there's less rainfall in the areas that feed the tributaries in the rocky mountains and more rainfall in other areas that doesn't run off into the river as well the scientists named this drought the millennium drought and they compared it to a drought that occurred between 1953 and 1968 that also saw the river levels shrink but that drought was caused more by just the loss of precipitation and not so much by warmer temperatures there's actually more rain falling now in the colorado river basin than there was during that last drought but the warmer temperatures have made the rivers shrink even lower than before and when you factor in the rate of warming it's predicted that the river's flow could decrease by five to twenty percent over the next forty years and by the year twenty one hundred it could go down by fifty five percent now somebody in the comments is going to point out that population growth in that area is also a factor and you wouldn't be wrong about that the number of people in the states that rely on the colorado river has gone up by 6 million people over the last 20 years that's not nothing in fact some of the fastest growing areas in the country are in this region utah actually between 2010 and 2020 saw the largest percentage increase in population in the entire united states this is an actual problem and there are people that are starting to talk about whether or not states should actually discourage people from moving there now some might use it as a way of dismissing the climate change part of the equation by saying that of course there's more people there so there's less water to go around but that doesn't have anything to do with the measurably smaller snowpack in the mountains and the measurably higher temperatures so population control is is is kind of a hard sell in politics for obvious reasons but the increasing population is exacerbating an already very bad problem to reiterate just how much is at stake here the colorado river basin supports a 1.4 trillion dollar economy if it was its own country it would be the 7th largest country in the world economically so what happens if that dries up completely well just for starters 40 million people would be without water which would lead to some major population shifts from some of the largest cities in the united states including la las vegas and phoenix so when we hear people talk about mass migrations caused by climate change it's not just coastal cities being flooded it's things like this but even for people who don't live in these cities the effects could be catastrophic less water doesn't just kill crops it also means more fish dying in rivers so we could see food shortages reduced hydroelectric power entering the grid increasing the cost of all those things and countless other connected industries all of which could compound on top of themselves and bring the world's seventh largest economy to its knees destabilizing other economies and leading to a total economic collapse kind of starting off 2022 with a real joy-gasm of a video here but hold up don't panic yet anything like that that could happen would be far in the future and besides there are some things that are being done right now to mitigate the problem in october the arizona government allocated 30 million dollars to keep more water and leg need these funds will be used to buy or rent water rights from native american tribes and other people that have guaranteed water allocations urban areas are also doing their part for water conservation for example las vegas is now paying their residents to rip out their lawns and go with xeriscaping that uses less water and los angeles plans on completely recycling all their water by 2035. the big gear to keep an eye out for is 2026 that's when the river's management guidelines are set to expire at that point every state and everybody with an interest in the colorado river's future is going to come together and try to hammer out some new guidelines to keep it more sustainable going forward and for all of you out there that really nerd out on the intricacies of water treaties and i know there are tens of you out there it's going to make for some riveting tv on c-span and whatever comes out of those talks it better work or else the next meeting that they have to establish some guidelines is going to require mandatory still suits and evaporative water collection machines which we know are just that's a huge bummer because they break down all the time and you've got to get to toshi station to pick up some power converters but all jokes aside look i i know you're probably tired of hearing about climate change it seems like everything that happens gets blamed on climate change and at a certain point even i am sitting here like dude it can't always be climate change right and that's true not everything is climate change but this is and it's really bad we have to make some fundamental changes in the way we live and power our lives if we don't do it by choice we'll have to do it by necessity just ask those farmers in arizona right now that are deciding which fields they're not going to plant this year this is a tangible problem that is affecting people's lives today and it's not just on the colorado river this is happening in river systems all around the world so i don't know as much as i talk about reducing climate change maybe we should be talking just as much about exactly how we adapt to climate change over the next few decades because that is something we have already started doing so bummer of a video today but you got anything to add anything that i missed are you experiencing these effects yourself are you doing your part to cut down on water consumption in the colorado river basin or other places discuss in the comments below but hey one thing that you can do is to purchase food for more sustainable and organic farms which can be kind of difficult you got to research the different places and you got to go to certain stores to find it or you could sign up with today's sponsor hellofresh hellofresh delivers fully stocked meal kits right to your front door with recipes created by professional chefs pre-proportioned with instructions even a dummy like me can follow it saves time you'd normally spend going to the store and like i said they buy direct from farmers so it's fresher than what you get in the store and might not even be available in your local store and the food is seriously amazing often with flavor combinations you never had before you discover so many new foods this way like okay we my wife and i had this last night it's the crispy chick crispy kicking cayenne chicken i 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three gifts and you can start the new year with something tasty links down below big thanks to hellofresh for supporting this video and a huge shout out to the answer files on patreon and the youtube members that are forming an awesome community and just being so supportive and cool and i can't thank you guys enough there's some new members i need to shout out real quick we've got zev the wolf nigel davenport tamara brady tim wearley logan collier jeff milarnick dominic rodriguez ronnie smith erilu lucas tourek and john frankie there's two k's in there so thank you guys so much if you'd like to join them get early access to videos get access to exclusive live streams and as a member you get a little thing by your name that makes you stand out in the comments uh just hit the little join button down below please do like and share this video if you liked it and if this is your first time here maybe check out this one google thinks you'll like that one because they've been following you and there's nothing creepy about that at all and any of these others down on the side that my face on them and go check them out if you enjoy them i do invite you to subscribe i come back with videos every monday so that's it for now sorry today was kind of a little bit of a downer video but i do hope you had a great start to 2022 i hope this year is amazing for all of you i thank you so much for being a part of this channel and giving me the chance to do this for a living it's a dream come true so go out there have an eye opening rest of the week stay safe and i'll see you next monday love you guys take care

Channel: Joe Scott

Views: 497,571

Keywords: answers with joe, joe scott

Id: lYvQNon4aLg

Length: 16min 43sec (1003 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 03 2022