Research paper on the Colorado River & Glen Dam
Research Paper on the Colorado River & Glen Dam
Water law traditionally has been referenced in regards to water quality, judicial decisions, and state statutes that deal with water quantity, the allocation, and management of water rights. The subject of water quality has often been discussed under the environmental law. The water law of the Western States was set upon various doctrines that developed in a uniform pattern within the western United States. Water is the lifeblood of the arid West, and the Western Water Laws were developed in controversy, and thus the allocation of water rights continues to be of critical importance and procedures are being modified to meet the modern demands of water in these states.
Historically, two distinct philosophies were developed to manage surface water resources and have influenced water laws in the Western United States since they were created. The Riparian Water Rights Doctrine and the Doctrine of Prior Appropriation were created in response to the growing demand of water resources in the United States (Welden, 2003). The former was developed in Eastern United States and England where the climate is humid and with plenty of water resources. The doctrines principle is that, if one owns land along a surface water body "a riparian owner". The owner is at liberty to use of the water from that source, and each of the riparian owners has a right to use water. In essence, there is no law that limits them from utilizing the water even during drought (Welden, 2003).
The later doctrine also called The Doctrine of Prior Appropriation was developed in the western semi-arid lands that were unsuited for the riparian doctrine. According to Welden, the doctrine found its roots in 1855, the case of Irwin v. Phillips in the Californian Supreme Court, during the time Gold Rush and water appropriation problems was brought to light (2003). Mathew had diverted water upstream to his mining operation shortly after Robert Philips had started his mining operations downstream. Earlier, water in the western states was largely utilized for irrigation and mining.
The land was irrigated on large scales, and therefore, water had to be channeled from the surface source and most lands were publicly owned and it modified the private land ownership concept that was associated with riparian doctrine. The appropriation doctrine was developed over the years to address the special water need in the West (Welden, 2003). The main principles that guide the doctrine include; beneficial use is often the basis, the measure and the limit of the right, the right of water use is lost if water is not utilized for all extended period. For instance "use it or lose it," the rule of priority controls during the time of shortage (Welden, 2003). In all western states, water is considered public property and permits are used to control water usage, and the permit is subject to conform to the established principles.
History of Water Allocation in Colorado River
Colorado River is a major river in the South Western United States and Northern Mexico. It drains to the expansive arid watershed of the seven US western states, and it is the critical water source for agricultural production and municipal use in the desert lands of the southwestern North America (Water in Colorado, 2016). A huge number of dams, reservoirs, and aqueducts control the flow of Colorado River and its tributaries. These barriers divert most of the water to agricultural fields and for municipal supply to over forty million people within the watershed. It is also used for generating electricity, and it meets the power demands of the intermountain west.
A series of law govern water allocation in Colorado River, and in Arizona, it began as early as the 1800s since miners appeared in the region after the discovery of gold (Water in Colorado, 2016). In the West, the first laws allocated the water for use by prospectors and farmers, they were given a higher priority, also called policy of Prior Appropriation, and it is still an effective foundation of water utilization to date (Water in Colorado, 2016). The Colorado Water Compact was an accord signed by the seven Western States that was developed in 1922 to safeguard rights to water in states located at the higher basin where water originate and the states at the lower side where water was needed the most. The CRC divides water portion of 7.4 million acre-feet each to the upper and lower states yearly (Water in Colorado, 2016).
The Boulder Canyon Project Act gave a share of 4.4, 2.8 and 0.3 million acre-feet of water to California, a Nevada, and Arizona respectively (Water in Colorado, 2016). Arizona was the last state to sign the agreement in 1944. The Colorado River Basin Project Act also referred to as the Central Arizona Act, was established when Arizona realized that it was not using the full share allocated by the CRC. It lobbied to construct the Central Arizona Project that would build a channel to divert water to the central and northern location to compensate for the unused share (Water in Colorado, 2016). California at that time was drawing the unused share of the Arizona, as it had rights to do so, but the case between Arizona v. California in the U.S. Supreme in 1964, ruled out that Arizona's utilization of Gila did not deprive it full use of the 2.8 million acre-foot water proportions given to California (Water in Colorado, 2016). The Colorado Basin development decree of 1968, enabled development of many projects along the Colorado River including, the Central Arizona Project.
Impacts of Dams on the River
According to Colorado River Basin, dams in Colorado River were built to meet water demands for agriculture and municipal use in the urban areas (2016). These dams have solved numerous water problems in the western states that are supplied by Colorado River. Some of the positive impacts of the dams include the increased water supplies to the states served by the river even during the dry season, the generation of hydroelectric power that supplies cities in these States, adequate supply of water to the expanding cities such as Phoenix. Las Vegas among others and also the creation of microclimates that are more favorable than the hot desert climates of the West (Sharing Colorado River, 2016). The spectacular engineering technologies applied in the construction of these dams are spectacular and have formed natural, recreational areas amidst natural landscapes.
However, these dams have several negative impacts on the river and the environment, including flooding that occurs on the upper parts of the river during the wet seasons that causes displacement of people and wild animals. These dams have significantly reduced the amount of water flowing downstream, and the water hardly makes it to its mouth at the Gulf of California, hence, reducing the wetlands at the Gulf to a fraction of its original size, thus affecting the ecology of that region tremendously. Dams have also encouraged salt concentration in Colorado river water due to evaporation, and agriculture (Water in Colorado, 2016). The rocks that the river crosses are naturally made of salt minerals and some of the chemicals used in the agricultural fields are salty. Hence, the salt concentration in the river increases downstream and it becomes unusable in Mexico, and it has to be desalinized (Water in Colorado, 2016).
Revisions to the Colorado River Compact That Allows the Dam to Flow to the Gulf of Mexico
In the 20th day of November 2011, the US and Mexico reorganized the waterway Laws to tackle the 1.4 million acre-feet water allocation to Mexico yearly from the Colorado River (Colorado River-Allocation, 2016). Under surplus conditions about Lake Mead, the annual flow to Mexico would increase to forty thousand, and when higher the extra deliveries to Mexico increased reaching 200,000 acre-feet (Colorado River-Allocation, 2016).
History of Glen Canyon Dam
The Glen Canyon Dam is located in Northern Arizona near Page town in the US (Glen Canyon Dam, 2016). It was constructed to generate hydroelectricity and o control the flow of the Colorado River upper basin. Lake Powell is the reservoir behind the dam, and it is one of the major artificial lakes in the US. In the 1950s the dam was proposed to be constructed, as part of the Colorado Storage Project and as reservoir storage for the Colorado River and its distributaries on upstream, especially during the drought periods; hence, ensuring better utilization of the river flow. Initially, the dam was to be built at the protected Echo Park, but demonstrations over the issue made US Bureau of Reclamation relocate the project to Glen Canyon. Dam construction began in 1956 and it was finished early 1967. In 1983, heavy floods upstream almost collapsed the dam, but the disaster was escaped narrowly (Glen Canyon Dam, 2016).
What Was Lost When the Dam Was Built
Apart from the disrupted significant ecologic formation of the Glen Canyon, a scenic gorge was lost before a majority of American knew of its existence or even made a visit to it. The group that demonstrated over the construction of the dam was the Sierra Club and they produced a book titled "Place No One Knew" on Glen Canyon mourning the loss of a major gorge in the basin. The book featured photographs by Eliot Porter, and Americans know little, that a handful of individuals that include hikers had toured the pre-dam glen canyon.
How the Dam Has Affected Grand Canyon
Colorado River passes through the Grand Canyon but it lacks a source of sediment that it requires to build sandbars and island. Hence, these alluvial outcrops have suffered erosion damage (Glen Canyon Dam, 2016). Elimination of scoring due to lack of floods has resulted to vegetation overgrowth that has changed the riparian zone environment creating problems to tourist's nature lovers (Glen Canyon Dam, 2016). Glen Canyon was steep and narrow valley initially, and it supported wide of ecological systems including birds, mammals and fish: but now below the dam, the place has transformed into a killer of indigenous fish and thinning terrestrial species.
Why the Dam Was Built
The primary reason for the construction of the dam was to provide electricity to the cities of the western states and to regulate the flow of the Colorado River during drought and rainy seasons (Region, 2016). The dam was also an escape for the disaster that might have hit hard the lower states that are served by the river during the 1983 flood. The dam also supplies water to urban cities for municipal use.
The Beneficiaries of the Dam
The biggest beneficiaries of the dam are the three states namely Arizona, Nevada, and California. It fulfills its purpose by feeding the three states with water amounting to 7.5 million acre-feet, allowed by the Colorado water compact (Region, 2016). The dam is operated to ensure that it maintains the annual release of about 8.3 million acre-feet of water, just above the amount set by the Compact but it is still insufficient to convey water to Mexico.
Those Who Benefited From the Construction
During the construction, workers flocked into the construction in the mid-1950s, and settlement camp was established to accommodate these workers. Reclamation activities also planned a company town that would house the workers, and it was named Page, to honor John C. Page, a Reclamation Commissioner (Region, 2016). Initially, the town had plans for a maximum of eight thousand people, but it continued growing to host stores, hospitals, and even jewelry stores. The peak force exceeded 2,500 during the peak of construction, and a new town developed permanently near the dam (Region, 2016).
References
Colorado River Basin - dam, important, largest, salt, system, plants, source, salinity, human. (2016). Waterencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 8 April 2016, from http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Ce-Cr/Colorado-River-Basin.html
Colorado River-Allocation: The Law of the River. (2012).Arizonaexperience.org. Retrieved 8 April 2016, from http://arizonaexperience.org/land/allocation-law-river
Glen Canyon Dam: Biology. (2016). Www2.kenyon.edu. Retrieved 8 April 2016, from http://www2.kenyon.edu/projects/Dams/gbe03hol.html
The region, B. (2016). CRSP Glen Canyon Unit Construction History - Reclamation, Upper Colorado Region. Usbr.gov. Retrieved 8 April 2016, from http://www.usbr.gov/uc/rm/crsp/gc/history.html
Sharing Colorado River Water: History, Public Policy, and the Colorado River Compact. (2016). Wrrc.arizona.edu. Retrieved 8 April 2016, from https://wrrc.arizona.edu/publications/arroyo-newsletter/sharing-colorado-river-water-history-public-policy-and-colorado-river
Water in Colorado - A Brief History | The Water Information Program. (2016). Waterinfo.org. Retrieved 8 April 2016, from http://www.waterinfo.org/indian.html
Welden, F. (2003). History of Water Law in Nevada and the Western States(pp. 1-3). Nevada: Legislative Counsel Bureau.
