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This is the most famous river of the American West. For millions of years, Colorado seems to flow peacefully in the ocher canyons he carved. The river runs more than 2,300 km from the Rocky Mountains to its delta in Mexico. A source of thrill for tourists, it supplies more than 40 million people with water.
But specialists are worried after 19 years of consecutive drought. The river is in danger and its flow decreases from year to year. The artificial lakes that were created in its path to serve as reservoirs for the largest cities in the West are being emptied gradually. On Lake Powell, between Arizona and Utah, for example, Marlon Duke, of the state water management agency, shows the signs of this decline in the level. "We use more water than the lake has received" he badyzes.
Drought is not the only cause: artificial lakes, gigantic dams and diversion channels have largely participated in its tarrissement. In the seven states that it crosses, the river is diverted by the hand of man and is drawn, sometimes to excess. Its water feeds fields of intensive agriculture (alfalfa, cotton, cattle), some of which are located in the desert. Their situation is critical.
"Since we did not see any rain this spring, our reservoir did not get enough water" explains Nancy Caywood, owner of a large farm. And the authorities cut off access to the irrigation cbads. "It's tragic for us, we lose a lot of money."
Some find parries. In a golf course in Casa Grande (Arizona), we water the greens in the desert with recycled water. "You do not pump into the groundwater or the cbads, you retreat the sewage water is unfit for consumption" says Larry Rains, the manager.
But these solutions appear derisory. At the end of his voyage in the American West, the dry Colorado can no longer reach its estuary in the sea.
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