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<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 />
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<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 />
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<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
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<br />Glen Canyon bam
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<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
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