Can the Colorado River Sustain More Population Growth? - EcoWatch
▻https://www.ecowatch.com/colorado-river-population-growth-2655068854.html
News reports about the Colorado River over the last few months have been intense and depressing. The first ever “cuts” in water deliveries out of the river to Arizona and Nevada took hold last week, with more cuts likely coming to more states.
The ongoing 20-year drought, with the likelihood that climate change is the cause, have diminished the flow of water in the Colorado River by over 20% with even less water predicted in the future.
At the very same time, human population growth in the Southwest U.S. that relies on the Colorado River is booming. California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico have all grown fast, and even Wyoming is inching forward with new people. As just three examples, Colorado gained about 725,000 people between 2010 and 2020, Arizona gained about 760,000, and California gained 2.3 million.
People come from everywhere to move to the Southwest U.S. In Arizona alone, a recent comprehensive study about growth and sprawl showed that 56% of population growth in Arizona over the last decade was due to people moving into Arizona from other parts of the U.S., whereas 44% of the growth was due to people from outside of the U.S. migrating into Arizona.
And all of these people need water, much of which comes from an already tapped-out #Colorado_River.
#USA #eau #démographie