The Colorado ‘Running Dry’

by Dan Bloom

Jonathan Waterman draws his family’s water from an aquifer of the Colorado River, so his study of the great waterway has a significant personal aspect alongside the clear professional one. After rafting the entire length of the river and seeing the problems of Western water use first-hand, Waterman wrote the book, Running Dry: A Journey From Source to Sea Down the Colorado River, published by the National Geographic Society.

Among other factors, population growth, agriculture, and pollution emperil the Colorado River’s long-term viability, and Waterman is adamant that unless government, industrial and farming interests collaborate to reform our use of the river, shortages, and possibly crises will come to pass. In fact, since 1998, the Colorado River has failed to consistently complete it’s final course to the Gulf of California. Here is photographic evidence of this stark reality, featuring our guest.

Learn more about Jonathan Waterman at his website, here.

Learn more about ‘Skinny Dipping for a Cause’ at SaveTheColorado.org

Read Waterman’s latest blog entry for National Geographic, here.

Leave a Reply