1-6
By the Awesome People
Megan, Grant, and Quinn

1
• Salton Sea - inland sea in California
• Below sea level
• Hot arid climate
• Fed by New, Alamo, and Whitewater Rivers
• Largest lake in California

2
• Started in 1905 – heavy rain and snow make
CO River swell
• Breached a dam and eroded the New and
Alamo Rivers; carried water into Salton Sink and created the Sea
• Railroad tried to stop it but couldn’t keep up

3
• Salinity rose when water was redistributed to
San Diego
• Now saltier than seawater
• Fertilizer runoff into the sea
• Currently unsafe for humans and fatal to many fish and sea inhabitants

4
• Many fish have died
• Once salinity increases to 4.4%, only tilapia will be able to survive
• Fertilizer and salinity have led to bacteria and more algae
• Unstable ecosystem

5
• Environmental
– Dangerous
– Home to five endangered species
– Hosts millions of migrating birds
• Economic
– Takes away fishing market from Salton Sea
– Inland sea would be an attractive tourist spot if it were cleaned up
– Threatens the farming business of the local farmers

6
• $10 million for a Salton Sea water quality study in the
1992
• Trying to reduce the water runoff that is polluted
• proposed alternative to create an artificial outlet for the sea and reduce its salinity.
• Plans to spend $6.9 billion over the next 75 years is in place but no set plan has been released
• Success is relative to how serious people are about saving it

sources
• http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0502/feat ure5/index.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_sea#Environme ntal_decline
• http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/salton/EnvirnEconValueSalt onSea.html
• http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/salton/SSEcosystemInitiativ e.html
• http://articles.ocregister.com/2007-04-
30/news/24684900_1_salton-sea-doug-barnumcolorado-river

Luna and Reilly are awesome.
Q’s 7-12

#7
• Salton Sea:
– Saline sea
– California
– Not connected to the ocean
– No inlet
•Similarities:
• Lake Chad:
•Endorheic
•Environmental threats
•Have been diverted for irrigation
– Freshwater lake
– North Africa
– Connected to Atlantic
Ocean

#8
• Chad, Africa
• Provides water to 20 million people in four countries: Chad, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria.
Also serves as a major source for fishing.
• It shrank 95% from 1963 to 1998.
• Human population growth, dry conditions and irrigation.

#9
• Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan

#10
• Syr Darya and groundwater from Amu Darya

#11
• World Bank Uzbek mission

#12
• Soviet Union irrigation project for Central Asia

Sources
• #7:
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea
• #8:
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Chad
• #9 – 12
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea

The Aral Sea
By: Alex
John
Shikha Upreti

No. 13
• Resources supplied by the Aral Sea:
– Florished the most ancient civilization by watering the irrigation

No. 14
• The 3 environmental effects of the fading
Aral Sea:
– Dryer and shorter summer
– Longer and colder winds
– Frequent dust storms
– Intensive accumulation of salt in soil, etc.

#15
1. Once prosperous fishing industry has been virtually destroyed; high rate of unemployment
2. Agriculture has been destroyed due to increased salinity of the area’s soil
3. Destroyed the Muskrat trapping industry;
Muskrats occupied the deltas

#16
• Similarities:
– Increased Salinity (both have salinity ratings higher than the ocean)
– Decrease in fish populations
– Algal Blooms due to fertilizer runoff
• Differences:
– Salton Sea’s problems caused by lack of outflow
– Salton Sea is not as severely harmed as the Aral Sea

• Today the Aral sea is a much smaller area as it is now four separate lake bodies at only 10% of its original size
#17

• Because of the decreased lake water, contaminants are able to leave the soil and blow about in the air causing several problems
#18
• Increased Infant
Mortality Rate
• Respiratory issues
• Diarrheal Disease
• Nutritional Deficiencies
• Heart Disease
• Anemia

Sources
• http://visearth.ucsd.edu/VisE_teach/lessons/
Aral_SaltonLP.html
• http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/salton/CleaningUpSe a.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_health_pr oblems_in_the_Aral_Sea_region
• http://enrin.grida.no/htmls/aralsoe/aralsea/e nglish/arsea/arsea.htm

• 19) Canals could be built that connect rivers, like the
Volga, to the Aral Sea. This would allow water from the rivers to flow to the sea. Also, a levee could be built to raise the water level in the sea.
• 20) The level of water in both lakes has dropped significantly due to increased population in the area.
The water in both lakes was also used for irrigation which also contributed to the decreasing water levels. Also, salinity levels in both lakes have risen.

• 21) In the 1940’s Los Angeles started diverting water from the lake to sustain their growing population. Since then the water level has dropped about twenty five feet.

• 22) Both the Aral Sea and Mono lake had water diverted for human needs, both significantly decreased in water level both had devastating affects on wildlife.

• 23)The focus of the problem at Mono Lake is the affect it had on animals where as the Aral
Sea problem is more about those who lost their homes and jobs, there are very active attempts to save Mono Lake, while little is being done for the Aral Sea, and the two have significantly different climates.

• 24) Efforts started with David Gaines studying the lake and making a public report. Later on he formed the Mono Lake Committee, which he and his associates then went around giving public speeches informing others. After gaining the help of other committees, the Mono Lake Committee sues
California resulting in monitoring of the lake and diversion stream, an increase in water level, and a national reserve over the lake.

Sources
• http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/ECAEXT/EXTECASUMECSSD/0,,contentMDK:20766245~pageP
K:51246584~piPK:51241019~theSitePK:1587162,00.html
• http://www.kahncious.net/discover/mono.htm
• http://www.monolake.org/about/story
• http://www.africanwater.org/aral.htm
• http://www.columbia.edu/~tmt2120/introduction.htm

• The river diversion in Russia has caused the
Aral sea to retreat by tens if not hundreds of miles, destroying once was a flourishing fishing industry. The Colorado does not flow into an inland sea, so it has had less of an impact, although the river is diverted so often that it is very small when it reaches the ocean.

26.
The Salton Sea was formed as a result of the diversion from the Colorado River. Flood from agricultural activity and increased salinity is due to inflow of contaminated material from farmland. Algal blooms are common in the Salton Sea. In the Aral Sea, the size is shrinking because so much of the inflowing water is diverted to irrigation. This is also found in the Colorado River, because much of it was diverted into the Salton Sea. However, whereas the Aral Sea and Colorado are decreasing in amount of water, the Salton
Sea is increasing. Both the Aral Sea and the Colorado River were diverted in order to increase irrigation and oasification of the desert.

27. What is a tributary?
• A stream or river that flows into a main stem or parent river or lake.
• Does not flow to a sea or ocean.

• Continental Divide at La Poudre Pass
• Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

• Eagle River
– Origin: confluence of East Fork and South Fork
• Roaring Fork River
– Origin: Independence Lake
• Green River
– Origin: Wind River Mountains
• Dirty Devil River
– Confluence of Fremont River and Muddy Creek

• Continental Divide at La Poudre Pass
• location: Rocky Mountain National Park,
Colorado, United States
• elevation: 10,184 ft (3,104 m) [1]
• coordinates: 40°28′20″N 105°49′34″W [2]

Sources
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tributary
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River

31) Delegates from the seven Colorado River Basin states met to negotiate and work out the Colorado River Compact. The states within each basin were to work out each state's allocation. In this manner Colorado River water is shared and used.
32) A watershed is the area of land where all of the surface water from rain and melting snow or ice drains off of it goes into the same place; usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another body of water (River, Lake, Ocean.) In closed drainage basins, the water converges to a single point inside the basin (sink), which may be a permanent lake, dry lake, or a point where surface water is lost underground.
33) The Colorado River is a primary water supply for 25 million people in seven states —
Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California — as well as
Mexico. Two pronged approach to management among states: river management and river planning. River management based off of supply and demand of river resources as well as water quality, salination, consumptive losses etc. River planning deals with operations planning dealing with long term management of river resources and management. The management of the river is governed by multiple interstate and international compacts, legal decrees, prior appropriation allocations, and federally reserved water rights for Native Tribes. The “Law of the River” has been made into law and compromised since the 1920s. Most authorize the construction of dams and basins and settle disputes among the resource use among the seven states that share it

34)
Water is split among the states and Native tribes for use. It provides municipal water, which is its main use, for many cities along the river: Las Vegas, Phoenix,
Tucson, the Colorado Front Range, the Wasatch Front, Albuquerque and the
Southern California Coastal Plain. Recreational use and hydroelectric power is high throughout the region.
35) Especially in areas where water is limited, conflicts arise over who (whether it be ethnic groups, states, or nations) gets access to the water and who doesn't.
These conflicts were previously resolved by violence however, from the twentieth century on, most conflicts over water have been resolved through , albeit intense, negotiations.
36) In the U.S, water use conflicts are regulated through a combination of government mandates and private limitation. Public uses, such as recreation, are protected while all public utilities, such as sewers and water treatment facilities, are held by the government for public benefit. Private interest is lowered in stratification to commercial waterways and some ownership however, ownership is limited as government seeks to hold public interest first.
Worldwide is a different story as each nation has different values associated with water use.

Sources:
31 and 32: http://ag.arizona.edu/azwater/arroyo/101comm.html
, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watershed
33 and 34: http://wwa.colorado.edu/colorado_river/index.html
, http://www.climatescience.gov/workshop2005/presentations/WA2.2_Kuhn.pdf
35 and 36: http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Re-St/Rights-Public-Water.html

• Avery Brown
• Jonathan Sartor

37
Mexico, the US, and the Colorado River
• US diverts flows of the Colorado river with advent of Green
Revolution (irrigation purposes)
• This lead to degradation of water quality from pesticide and runoff pollution
• Mexico complains of the poor water quality it receives on behalf of US
• US guarantees it would do three things:
• Build a desalinization plant in Arizona
• Construct a drain to carry waste from this plant to gulf of Mexico to bypass
Colorado river completely
• Help Mexico obtain financing for rehabilitation and improvements of
Mexicali valley
Avery Brown: Sourcehttp://www1.american.edu/TED/colorado.htm

38
Controversy over Tigris and Euphrates:
• Turkey, Iraq, and Syria have different plans to use water from these rivers resulting in water allocation issues
– Turkey contributes 88% of water that flows in Euphrates while Syria contributes 12%
– Turkey contributes 51% of water that flows in Tigris while Iraq contributes 49%
– Even though Syria contributes no water to Tigris, it has had claims since ancient times
• Turkey-Syria
– Turkey wants to build dams and power plants to help develop Southeastern Turkey
– Syria wants the water for irrigation purposes and claims it needs a larger percentage of the water to sustain its agricultural industry
• Iraq-Turkey
– Stable relationship with both sides currently content with water situation
• Syria-Iraq
– Syria has had a history of holding back the waters of the Euphrates from Iraq for its own irrigation purposes
– Iraq needs water of the Euphrates for consumption and irrigation purposes as well
Avery Brown: Sourcehttp://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/tigris.htm

39
• Both the Colorado River and the Yangtze River experienced problems related to water diversion after building dams. They both altered the natural flooding patterns of the river and negatively affected the wildlife in the area.

40
• Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze River was controversial because it flooded archaelogical sites, displaced nearly 1.3 million people to increase the Yangtze’s shipping capacity and reduce the potential for floods.
• http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8
599,1671000,00.html

41
• Glen Canyon Dam – negatively impacted the environment and native wildlife by disrupting the pattern of natural floods. Also caused the water to remain at an almost constant temperature http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/grandcan/dam.html
• Hoover Dam – natural flooding completely eliminated.
Changed the salinity of the Colorado River Delta resulting in a decline of the estuarine ecosystem. http://books.google.com/books?id=hFkvJekTJ9wC&lpg
=PA133&dq=%22hoover+dam%22+%22colorado+river
+delta%22&pg=PA139&hl=en#v=onepage&q=%22hoov er%20dam%22%20%22colorado%20river%20delta%22
&f=false