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<br /> <br />~r:""?l <br />,J..J . ...1, <br /> <br />"' <br />u <br />z <br />Cl <br />.. <br />" <br /> <br />Cl <br /> <br />~ <br />Cl <br /> <br />Length of the river; <br />Approximately 1400 miles <br /> <br />States in the upper ba::;in <br />of the Colol'ildo Wver: <br />Wyoming, Utah. Colorado <br />and New Mexico <br /> <br />State!:! in the lower basin <br />of the Colorado River: <br />Arizona, Califor,nia ailt~ <br />Nevada <br /> <br />\Vatershed area: <br />246,000 squa" miJes <br /> <br />Population served by <br />C()lorudo River watex:: <br />Nearly 25 million <br /> <br />Amount of Wllter in <br />an_acre~foot: <br />Almost 326,000 gallo,,, <br /> <br />Amount of Colorado <br />River water all()ttedto <br />7,\basin states: <br />16'millioll acre-feet-......-. <br />7.5 million to eaf:h.basin <br />& an arlditiouul l million <br />to the IOWf;l! basin <br /> <br />Amounl of i'iver water <br />guaranteed to Mexico: <br />1.5 million aeft-feet <br /> <br />" <br /> <br />Historic yearly flows: <br />From-a high of nearly 24 <br />milliol1-<lere-ft~t <br />To aJow of SOllle 5 million <br />acre~feet <br /> <br />Primary. source ofsll;Pply: <br />Headwater sllowmelt <br /> <br />~ verage, rainfall in majority <br />of hasin: <br />4 inches or less: <br /> <br />Average..power generated <br />using Colorado Rivt:.r watp.r: <br />1].7 trillion .kilowatthours <br />(1991) <br /> <br />I <br /> <br /> <br />When nature created the <br />Colorado River, she plot- <br />ted its course to wind from <br />its headwaters in the high <br />conn try of Colorado and <br />Wyoming through Utah, <br />Arizona, Nevada and <br />California. <br />This irresistible fmce <br />forged its way through a <br />wilderness of mountains, <br /> <br />taries. It was a river then <br />that could be a rampaging <br />giant, a spawner of killer, <br />destructive floods in the <br />spring, that, like a <br />chameleon, turned into a <br />placid trickle of water in <br />the hot, dry months of <br />summer. As diversions <br />increased throughout the <br />various states, seeds were <br /> <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />Glen Canyon bam <br /> <br />pJateaus and deserts to the <br />low country, eventually <br />reaching the alkali saJt flats <br />of Mexico and emptying <br />into the Gulf of California. <br />Nature created other <br />rivers, streams and brooks <br />to feed the Colorado, <br />draining the mountain <br />ranges of New Mexico as <br />well as those of the states <br />through which it curves its <br />way south, then west, then <br />south again. <br />There were early diver- <br />sions in the 1800s from the <br />river and from its tribu- <br /> <br />sown for a decades-long <br />battle over appmtionments. <br />Then in 1922, the <br />CoJorado River Compact <br />was hammered out - a <br />compact that appOl'tioned <br />the beneficial consumptive <br />use of the river's water <br />between the upper and <br />lower basins. <br />The dividing point <br />between the two basins was <br />set at Lee Ferry near Page, <br />Arizona. The upper basin <br />states are Wyoming, <br />ColOl'ado, Utah and New <br />Mexico, and the Jower <br />basin, Arizona, Nevada and <br />California. <br />Agreement on the com- <br />pact had been necessary <br /> <br />before legislation to har- <br />ness the river could be <br />introduced. After consider- <br />able maneuvering in the <br />halls of Congress, legisla- <br />tion was passed that <br />cleared the way for build- <br />ing BouJdel' (now Hoover) <br />Dam, which would form <br />Lake Mead. Completed in <br />1935, the dam was the first <br />big step toward taming the <br />wild, often violent river. In <br />1956, passage of the multi- <br />provisional Colorado <br />River Storage Project Act, <br />allowing the upper basin <br />states to develop use of <br />their share of the river's <br />water, resulted in construc- <br />tion of a number of facili- <br />ties, including the second <br />of the two major dams on <br />the main stem of the <br />Colorado - Glen Canyon <br />which forms Lake Powell. <br />Today the benefits of the <br />Colorado River are <br />numerous and impressive, <br />though some go unrecog- <br />nized by most. It not only <br />meets the water and power <br />needs of the nearly 25 mil- <br />lion people within the <br />basin states and adjoining <br />areas, but of many more <br />when you include those <br />south of the border in <br />Mexico. <br />Its reservoirs provide <br />water for the people and <br />for large and small busi- <br />ness and industry in the <br />cities - cities such as <br />Phoenix, Salt Lake City, <br />Denver, Albuquerque, San <br />