Tuesday Trifecta: Colorado River Basin 'Dead Pool' Redux!

In my US Water Management class today we discussed Marc Reisner's classic Cadillac Desert and the results of the CD25 project of which I was a part: "Reclaiming freshwater sustainability in the Cadillac Desert"

For  number of reasons, not the least of which is that it's my favorite river, I decided to focus on the Colorado River basin (I am also reviewing a paper on CRB management). I naturally started looking through past posts to see what I had written. I came across a rather dark three-part post I wrote four years ago built around James Lawrence Powell's Dead Pool: Lake Powell, Global Warming, and the Future of Water in the West . 

I became so enthralled at Powell's story that I thought, 'Why not have my class read these?" Then I thought, "And why not repost these? If David Zetland can have 'Flashbacks', then I can recycle material as well!"

Here goes - still has some relevance today:

Is 'Dead Pool' Dead On? Part 1: A Phoenix Fable

Is 'Dead Pool' Dead On? Part 2: Building to the 'Unthinkable'

Is 'Dead Pool' Dead On? Part 3: Ethical Issues

and here's a bonus post (or two):

Lakes Mead and Powell, 2021: Anyone Need Cat Sand?

Watermeisters Dispute Scripps Colorado River Study: Are Their Heads in the Sand or the Clouds?

Enjoy. Or not. 

"God created both man and nature. And man serves God. But nature serves man...To have a deep blue lake [Lake Powell], where no lake was before, seems to bring man a little closer to God." -- Floyd Dominy, Commissioner (1959-1969), U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, quoted in Dead Pool, p. 136

"If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague." -- Jerry Seinfeld

"Westerners call what they have established out here a civilization, but it would be more accurate to call it a beachhead." -- Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert, p. 3.

Comments

[Michael Campana]

Dear Teachersfuture,

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

I always appreciate thoughtful, constructive comments from knowledgeable people.

[Teachersfuture]

These posts are why people like me don't trust universities to teach anything but propaganda.

And this is why I show up at budget hearings and give you guys a massive haircut on dollars requested.