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Headlines From The Times

Colorado River in Crisis, Pt. 6: The End

Headlines From The Times

L.A. Times Studios

News, Daily News, Society & Culture, The Times, California

4.1544 Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2023

⏱️ 24 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Colorado River is supposed to end at the Gulf of California, but hasn't done so for decades.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

For millions of years, the Colorado River flowed from high up in the Rocky Mountains

0:07.0

all the way down to the Pacific Ocean, spilling into the Gulf of California.

0:12.0

But not anymore.

0:14.0

In our final installment of our series on the Colorado River, we reached the end of the line, the Delta.

0:20.0

Yeah, I mean, there's something about a river meeting the sea, or not meeting the sea, right?

0:24.6

The idea that a river should reach its end.

0:28.6

It's like if one of your veins didn't reach the heart.

0:33.6

Mm-hmm.

0:35.6

And thinking about how we cost that.

0:41.9

The transition that has taken place in the Colorado River Basin is astounding.

0:49.6

The Colorado River Basin is in its 23rd year of a historic drought.

0:54.0

This is a full-on five-alarm fire going on right now.

0:58.0

We know this system is taking everything from us,

1:02.0

and it's not going to stop until we stop it.

1:04.0

This is the end of the Colorado River here.

1:07.0

It's where the Colorado River would meet the sea

1:10.0

if so much water wasn't taken out upstream from here.

1:24.8

For decades now, so much water has been diverted to cities and farms

1:29.3

that the river usually disappears shortly after it gets into Mexico,

1:34.2

miles before it reaches the sea.

1:37.6

But then last spring, water flowed into parts of the Colorado River Delta again.

1:48.9

It was very impactful seeing the dry river bed and then this very small stream of water coming full speed. That flow was part of an ongoing

...

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