Colorado River in Crisis: A Los Angeles Times documentary

[@ianjames-latimes]

Hello, everyone! Ian James here, the reporter on this project. My colleagues and I traveled throughout the Colorado River Basin to produce this documentary, speaking with scientists, environmentalists, water managers, farmers, tribal leaders and others. Thank you for watching. Let me know if you have any questions!

[@salvadorgarcia4327]

i@ianjames-latimes . Thank you !! Would like to know if any reporter has ever been invited or on the agenda for a Palo Verde Irrigation Board metting 'a very different atmosphere' , and ask the question how these water managers are elected or appointed onto to these water boards. One thing is for sure, the 10 x 12 'honorable mention' bronze plaque that mentions the Colorado on the walkway on Olivera Street downtown Los Angeles.

[@Atthemomentt]

Thanks, Mr. James! For the stories.

[@Variety1985]

Keep us UPDATED on this subject ... THANK YOU!

[@RonFilco.9358]

Great documentary, very insightful. Sad to watch though!!

[@mojo.adventures]

Great job on this documentary Ian and your crew!👍 Lots of great data points in the video. You hit just about every facet of this complex issue. Each state along the river has their own unique problems to work out and they really started coming into the public light when Lake Mead dropped in 2022. It's great to see all the increased attention surrounding this issue and we hope the push will get everyone closer to understanding how to fix all this. If you are ever in the Lake Mead / Las Vegas area again to cover this topic feel free to reach out to us here, we continue to watch the reservoir and changes in the river.

[@TerlinguaTalkeetna]

Marc Reisner's great book Cadillac Desert written in 1986 explained that even John Wesley Powell tried in the 1870's after his trips down the Colorado to convince the country to NOT develop the arid west for irrigation agriculture. You can't grow a lasting society in dry place without water. We didn't, we built a short term place to PROSPER........ for awhile. Nothing is in balance in our American west. Despite my gloomy words I thank the LA Times and Ian James and entire team for their good work here.

[@JadedLady]

Crazy, folks who have to have water pumped long distances from the river insist they have more of a right to use water to make money than people at the end of the river who live very close to the river now has zero water do.

[@MrNick3742]

Ranchers think their rights are more important no matter how ridiculous the situation gets.

[@frankblangeard8865]

The end of the river is in Mexico.

[@artransue]

Exactly why is it Mexico has no say when they river is supposed to flow through there. It's gross.

[@steven4315]

@@artransue By treaty, Mexico has rights to about 10% of the Colorado river's total flow.

[@TheGhostOfMichaelJackson]

23:37 “Then we need to be compensated for our cost.” Translation- “I should be entitled to free money from the government.” I wonder how this guy feels about other people getting monetary help from the government.

[@shawnsanders2182]

Yes its called OVER POPULATED DESERTS.

[@MrNick3742]

Overpopulated with cows, yes.

[@GloryDaze73]

Humans LOVE learning the hard way!😢😢 we didn't plan....we took as much as we could....now we suffer...

[@maxmegamax2174]

Incredibly interesting and well made documentary!

[@Matt-wg9or]

thank you for this reporting, excellent work

[@ianjames-latimes]

Thanks very much.

[@buildmotosykletist1987]

He sets out to deceive and succeeds.

[@seanreid349]

Heres an idea, stop watering the desert, its a desert for a reason

[@oscarsucre9059]

The Landscape is gorgeous, a mighty Wonder of mother nature...

[@sentientflower7891]

The dead Colorado river delta indicates that the catastrophe already occurred whereas the consequences will arrive for civilization soon enough as blowback from climate change.

[@generictester]

the cannot fix water overconsumption, but hey yes they can fix "climate change"

[@Richard-i3f4w]

California, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada, It's your problem ! Tell the developers and politicians no more, your population has exceeded resources ! And good luck with that !

[@samshepperrd]

21:19. In the background is one of the many mountains of harvested hay or alfalfa. Much of that animal feed, grown on government subsidized water, is for export to Saudi Arabia, China, Japan and other money rich but water poor countries 25:16. Fatmers talking about installing sprinkler systems yo irrigate their anim🎉al feed. Because sprinklers, inefficient as they are, are more efficient than what they have bee using, which is flooding the fields, which is the least efficient, misr wasteful method of irritation there is.

[@nwpete]

California needs to get their act together and start capturing more precipitation from atmospheric rivers during el nino years.

[@yourfave]

And bake a pie in the sky too. Please provide us the technology to do that.

[@spacecoyote6646]

They are running out of places to put the dams

[@HandofBlake]

California needs 50% less people.

[@generictester]

yes, they will build a new Capitol and spend on "experiencing homelessness" by killing the economy.

[@Bob-bm3pd]

​@@HandofBlake and one hundred percent less illegal aliens.

[@ryansilver4212]

Now the question is how do we fix this? Start with recreation that is taking up water like Golf Courses in desert? Or start with restructuring water rights and how those are sold and bid for?

[@MrNick3742]

Stop breeding cows

[@GloryDaze73]

Combination of multiple good ideas. Sacrifices will have to be made. Survival over leisure. Corporations needs to cut back demands. Teamwork? What is that says the capitalist!

[@pumba3368]

Golf courses don't consume that much water compared to things like agriculture

[@edenbreckhouse]

There are two choices here: 1. Make significant changes now to avoid catastrophe or 2. Fail to make significant changes and have a catastrophe. My money is on option 2.

[@MrNick3742]

3. Just stop breeding cows

[@Paul_C]

It will be 2. It is the USA, enough said. They just TAKE, and never mind the consequences.

[@TheHonestPeanut]

​@@MrNick3742as illustrated in the video, cattle are a small percentage of the water consumption. Sure, the area can't support the ranches that are there but the issue is largely water heavy crops and over population.

[@MrNick3742]

@@TheHonestPeanut Water-heavy crops like alfalfa?

[@TheHonestPeanut]

@@MrNick3742 and wheat and corn and soy and fruit and nuts and veggies.

[@joygwin6673]

food forests can restore hydrology.

[@MrNick3742]

First sensible comment I've seen to this video. We need to replace all the pastures, mono crops, and other conventional agriculture with biodiverse permaculture food forests ASAP.

[@stigsrnning6459]

But to get that started: Build long, deep tunnels that allow hot air into one end leave the other end as cool air near the place to grow trees. Tunnels from almost opposite directions reaching the area would twist a vortex high up in the air bringing too hot air at the ground to clash with cool (cold) air 1000 feet or more above. Then mix and bring moisture or precipitation down.

[@honeydooda]

Excellent video.

[@eddiewolf_]

Great civilizations come and then they go. This one will be no different. The decline has already started.

[@StevenG.Reeves]

The Colorado River is at a critical juncture, facing unprecedented challenges that threaten its sustainability and the well-being of communities and ecosystems that depend on it. Urgent action is needed to address water scarcity, climate change impacts, and ecosystem degradation, and to ensure the equitable and sustainable management of this vital natural resource for future generations. Collaborative efforts, informed decision-making, and innovative solutions will be essential in navigating the path forward and securing the future of the Colorado River.

[@MiriamKadubcova-fg3vy]

Helli, as for the agricultural fields, they should be smaller with more confines with some trees and bushes. Their shades help to hold more water in the soil and their leaves in autumn give nutriments to the soil...

[@ronaldotto534]

I totally agree, but it is like doing things the old fashioned way is out of style.

[@michaelentwistle5933]

Its disgusting to me how the indigenous people of America are still being treated with such disrespect. We need to see some movement here

[@Mrbfgray]

"Driven by the burning of fossil fuels." LAT has been predicting end of Sierra snow for decades including right before the 5th biggest snow in recorded history, 2022/23. SOooo...let's burn more fossils to feed the rivers?

[@samanthaberch]

There are just some places humans are not meant to live, and this is a prime example. Irrisponsible growth for no purpose other than greed. Dont complain down the road people about your water issues, you chose to live in a desert. Ridiculous.

[@elsonantoniodasilva3352]

Politicos ,sociedade civil,agricultores deven unir forças para salvar o rio Colorado, a unica solução e a reflorestação, o tempo não espera é preciso agir con urgencia mãos a obra por favor...!

[@conceptobject]

The river is not in crisis Denver Water has stolen the water and us pumping it to the Mississippi. Fundamentally Denver water is not compliant of the basic water law of returning the water to its original watershed.

[@ZenioDovgj]

High progressive water prices can fix the problem in 1 sec.

[@muwgrad1987]

I would be leery of buying property in Arizona. What happens to its worth when nothing comes out of the faucet?

[@barryhicks6513]

Could we say that intensive farming contributes to this issue? The more fert used, the more water is required. Same in India, and perhaps other places. here in NZ we're beginning to see the downside of intensive dairy farming on the Canterbury Plains.....

[@brian.a.bell.sr2968]

So why has one of the largest manufacturing plants built in North phoenix?

[@RicardoVanHouten]

I have one reason why those rivers dry up, that's DAMS! or Hydroelectric Dams, we have seen multiple cases where dam removals cleared the way for biodiversity and normal river levels

[@MrNick3742]

Dams are no good, but the real problem is cows & their feed. Alfalfa crops use 62% of the water we obtain from the Colorado.

[@conceptobject]

You really need to know your history guys. Study up on Powell. He proposed basing County and state lines based on watersheds just like the original Spanish settelers who laid out the territories who learned it from the African Moores.

[@Dan-nt2yb]

The new home construction in the desert is beyond infuriating and don’t get me started on all those bloody golf courses. Man….we a stupid bunch ain’t we?😠

[@cleoxo2566]

The trouble with human beings, it seems, is that we don't take action until we're in crisis mode. There are solutions available. Check out some of the videos that show efforts to "green the desert" in Africa and other places in our world, by using nature to restore ecosystems. Policy Makers in this country are historically short sighted. Thank you for making this documentary!

[@MawieStevens]

Abuse Mother Nature at your own risk....there is plenty of water....too many people😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@MrNick3742]

Too many cows*

[@malikmobley5466]

When it runs out don’t bring yall ass to the east coast 😂

[@salvadorgarcia4327]

River Kepper!! go visit the knot 'the core' that holds the River, Palo Verde Diversion Dam and the several water district entity's that wheel and deal for the control of it.

[@aninterestingstoryabout]

California needs to stop wasting Water..

[@barryhicks6513]

Also for the sea/coastal ecosystem, with that water not reaching the sea.

[@CindySorenson-r4m]

Desperate men, looking to keep what they think is theirs, but in truth it never was. Move on, your way of life is ending, so adapt/compromise, or prish.

[@biggdogg1870]

612k views only 140 comments it truly deserves to dry up

[@brysonhood4102]

Hmmm crazy…. Wasn’t the times and its owner heavily involved in the consolidation of farm land and water rights from other areas of California to feed your city….

[@RobertGotschall-y2f]

Putting dams on rivers results in huge evaporation losses. So how crazy is building dams to use water to make electricity in the driest places on earth?

[@seanjustg5425]

All the technology and vehicles that are built for mining, war, and such, youd think someone would come up with a way to use such for benefit instead of destruction and murder...like maybe bring ice that seems to be melting anyway and replenish areas in need. RESPECTFULLY. ⛄💦🌏

[@jansteyaert1]

Agriculture needs to evolve, grow more with less water. Cause that's where the majority of the water in the Colorado river goes to, farming. Sooner or later, if people want to continue farming in a desert they will have to change their farming techniques.

[@carveraugustus3840]

Interview with first native interior Secretary?

[@leokaloper4132]

The Aral LAKE and Chad LAKE are being overused for irrgation. But both lakes have less than 40 million people depending on them. Just like the Panama Canal, is a RIVER going belly up just due to men's necessity !

[@wm3293]

The amazing thing is how does the west have so many water issues??? You people would shit your selfs if you seen how much water is diverted from the Niagara River right above Niagara Falls even with them diverting half the flow Horseshoe Falls still has 675,000 gallons of water spilling over in every second and another 75,000 gallons of water spill over the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls per second even with all this diversion it doesn't effect Lake Erie's or Lake Ontarios water levels

[@rgolianeh]

Some people might say it's too late to solve these problems and I strongly agree.

[@keyboarddancers7751]

The planning for Hoover Dam was based on erroneous climate data. Lake Mead has only ever been close to full for a few years since the construction of the dam. Urban and agricultural development in this desert region which is dependent on the Colorado river system was *NEVER* fundamentally sustainable over the long term.

[@samanthaberch]

Does noone else think its weird that they're farming in an "arrid" area as one farmer said? Why are we farming in what would be desert or a "dustbowl"? They need to change what theyre farming or move out of the desert. I live in the midwest and we farm crops that are appropriate for the water levels, terrain, and environments.

[@siggyincr7447]

There are all sort of reasons to grow crops in arid areas, just off the top of my head. 1. Land is cheap, which is a huge factor in agriculture. 2. Less weeds that are adapted to the conditions your crop grows well in. 3. A huge reduction in pests and diseases that can affect the crops. 4. Because of reasons 2 and 3, you can use significantly less agrochemicals, which are expensive.

[@peterdorn5799]

cali could incorporate new energy production, like small modular reactors and start desalinating salt water

[@Tormekia]

Sad thing is that it will have to collapse. The US government will not admit what needs to be done until it's the only option. Farmers will be pitted against cities. And it will be ugly.

[@frankblangeard8865]

4:00 The cattleman states that he will do whatever it takes to fill his water rights even with lower flows.

[@andrewgoodbody2121]

Let's see when the millions start moving up to him as he "gets what's his"

[@DimeandKirk]

This whole video is "but I need to make my money". The only one who actually gives a shit about conservation is the conservation expert. The farmers only see $ going away.

[@spacecoyote6646]

Remember, before the dams they had floods. And we have all eaten food from the Imperial Valley

[@Invertmini1212]

Lets also look at Vegas... Alot of that water is bought by Casinos to run their fountains and pools..

[@Paul_C]

Americans and water, trouble? Nah, they just lay the blame somewhere else.

[@philfluther2713]

"Don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today" Benjemin Franklin. Humanity going down the plughole to a chorus of 'blame somewhere else'. "Off with his head!", Neptune's. The arrogance 'and the ecstasy' of 'The Affluent Society'. Slainte (gaelic for, look after yourself). "Be daring but not" John Patric* daring, Ferdinand Foch. *1902 - 1985

[@Jaysqualityparts]

Build more farms in the desert that’ll help. Maybe California with all their money can build desalination plants and make the Colorado great again.

[@danbujor5991]

You forgot to plant big trees, like the baobab, all tree is usefull, planted by a mexican family in baha.

[@barrybateman9857]

Yes. It costs money to provide the world with more than half of its exportable daily bread. And the Northwest has a huge surplus of water that just runs into the oceans. There has to be an increased effort to move that surplus water to where it's needed. Recharge that great supply where it's needed.

[@jameskemps-rk8fq]

They keep talking about climate change lowering the river but the farmers farming deserts and California draining it wouldn’t have anything to do with it

[@GregorVDub]

We export our water to Asia via alfalfa... Yay capitalism!

[@rebeccahale4673]

Water rationing.

[@spacecoyote6646]

I hate Liberty mutual. I wish they'd stop showing me so many ads

[@darianclery4455]

The 40 million people use the Colorado River they said.40 million people depending people wake up

[@RUHappyATM]

Everything good always have a downside.

[@lilleyprescott2448]

I have no compassion for these beef farmers, their product is seriously water intensive. People aRE cutting down on beef, I don't want to give these climate crisis enhancers one more drop change your product, there are lots of them to choose from. As far as I am concerned they are poor stewards of the land and don't deserve water from a river miles away....sad

[@bryancoyne9692]

Millions and millions of ppl eat beef they love it so many steakhouses to eat at I don't see beef farming going away wut so ever not in urs or my lifetime anyway think how many ppl be without a job not just farmers but all ppl work at steakhouses restaurants truckers that haul beef way to many ppl that beef farming isn't going anywhere facts

[@MrNick3742]

@HibouRondo Regenerative ranching is a greenwashing scam. See "Grazed and Confused" by Oxford or read Regenesis by George Monbiot. Regardless, 62% of the water we use from this river is being put on alfalfa mono crops, which are incredibly water-intensive. Globally we use 60 of all agricultural land to grow cows, and they produce only 2% of our calories. Cows don't just eat all the alfalfa, they eat more soy, grains, and fish than people do, while emitting unsustainable amounts of methane in the process. When analyzed by real scientists, cows grown in the methods employed at White Oak Pastures, Joes Saladin, et al are generally about 500% worse.

[@JamesPilkenton-se5cx]

Bring a farmer means driving something. I almost never see anything about farming and the guy is driving something. Years ago I believed that being a farmer ment,I dunno you fix stuff and herd cows

[@MrNick3742]

@@JamesPilkenton-se5cx Being a farmer means creating a bounty of food for your community. Creating a bounty of food requires a biodiversity on the land we steward in order to increase its productivity and make it better for the generation that will follow us. It doesn't mean relying on gov. handouts and cheap chemically-saturated foodstuffs to feed one kind of inefficient animal for a few months before sending them off to slaughter. Cows, goats, and other grazing animals that are protected from nature by profit-seeking farmers is what turns good & marginal land into deserts. The more varieties of life we allow on our land, the more it will yield. That's how nature has always worked.

[@CindySorenson-r4m]

I HATE ONIONS!

[@jrltog4320]

If everyone P ed In a jug and flushed it once a week how much water woud that save? ⛲️

[@MrNick3742]

Thousands of times less than if everyone stopped eating cows

[@georgevossler8528]

I live in NH So much water. Its awesome.

[@mikewilkinson4588]

The Monkey Wrench Gang and Hayduke Lives, which I'm reading right now.......

[@nickheffernan6923]

Why would you want freshwater running into the sea? This documentary starts out terribly

[@oby-1607]

All these millions of people with their lawns that they never use to any extent and all of the single family dwellings that these lawns surround which is the least efficient form of housing there is. Time for a change in this process. The river was never made for Los Angeles or Phoenix or Las Vegas. Without these cities, the Colorado would prosper. But like anything else in North America, the system will be used up until its failure.

[@theblondeone8426]

Maybe its OK for cities and populations to shrink - u dont always need growth…and u should never tap into aquifers until you have a real famine - not bc ppl want instagramable homes.

[@stevenhanson6057]

Rethought or reallotments? Good luck.

[@lakeidachurch6484]

[Ecclesiastes 5:10] If you involved players don't start growing your "onions" and "almonds" in places where God sends more than enough free annual water from the sky ... sooner rather than latter ... no seniors or juniors or anyone else will have water. Just continue doing the same thing ... and the writing is clearly on the wall! The answers here are simple ones ... but the players just don't want to except them!!!

[@TheHonestPeanut]

Well golly I thought it was all just hunky dory. The head in the sand squad did their government overreach dance, they got some rain and then it was all good for a day. Problem solved!

[@mikewilkinson4588]

How about the impact of Atomic weapons testing on the weather patterns....why not blame National Security while you are at it?

[@xzyeee]

...and who told you that God didn't answer? He knows what you are going through, he listened and the answer, given, is on its way...

[@WokeandProud]

🙄

[@generictester]

The guy who wants dams to be demolished has no idea of the disaster he is calling for. "Spirituality"... Just leave the area and return it to first comers... no... Mine!

[@HoesengLow]

Is Donald Trump as US president again bad for the US climate management n water resources or environmental crisis.

[@flemmingfrimand9405]

make forest.. same the land

[@conceptobject]

This is the dumbest comment section that I have ever read. People wake up!

[@sw8741]

I wonder how the river looked around 1100 AD during the 250 year drought that hit the west. 250 years, and another 150 year drought after that one, must have really dried up the river. That well before "man made global warming", automobiles or coal fired power plants. All they have is about 150 years of actual weather data to go by. And that record has few data points in the early years. That doesn't include 200, 300 or 600 years ago either. I'll laugh if the next 30 years brings "above average" precipitation through out the region.

[@truthspeaks623]

You're more likely to have to drink your own tears.

[@sstarklite2181]

As usual, I have to explain how capitalism started all of these problems! We never should have had 30 million farmers in 1900, now 1 million, because we NEEDED housing for +50 million people, and we should have built only Tower cities connected to maglev Trains, worldwide, and no wage, so we could have built desalination plants worldwide (because in capitalism that “costs too much” to pay wages) and probably no dams like here at the Colorado River. And every Tower could have had rainfall catchments, and other ways to catch water (like water towers or who knows, from too much rain that caused floods) and we could have caught the RAIN/flood water and sent it to nations that needed it (which is too expensive in capitalism). Then people wouldn’t have suffered through floods and hurricanes etc and it killed millions that would have lived longer if not in houses and cars. We should have had fewer farms, and NO fertilizer which we now know is very bad. And could have taught people not to eat so much beef, which the government was paying millions in ads to teach people to eat lots more beef because then farmers could sell more and have a better income, which wouldn’t have existed because all people should have owned all things and we could have eliminated money, and had equal wealth so billions weren’t left to starve to death, because they should have built T&T too, and there wouldn’t have been the drug cartels, that are taking over small and large farms in Mexico and everywhere, started by the CIA probably to help poor people have something (drugs) to sell for an income! No CIA, no crimes, no prisons, no law enforcement killing innocent people sometimes. Then we could have started rethinking growing food vertically without soil, indoors, so farmers aren’t ruined when tornadoes, hurricanes, floods etc destroy all their crops and houses leaving them destitute, with nothing but the clothes on their backs, after all that hard WORK! In T&T all people could have worked part time, no debt or rent (causes poverty because it IS POVERTY!), because most jobs never would have existed (think especially low wage McDonalds etc jobs). No colleges would have been teaching slavery for wages! Equal wealth means no people could have been unable to AFFORD to live in T&T! And so much more. Renew your mind and start thinking differently!

[@martinreagan5083]

Stop the BS there is so much snow pack

[@skyh]

Let the water go to the sea and turn to salt, talk about waste.

[@sentientflower7891]

Water is supposed to reach the sea. Living deltas rank among the most productive and sustainable sources of food for humans. Agriculture is a dead end as the United States will discover in the West and Midwest.

[@Josef-K]

This is propaganda, is it not?

[@richarddecker9515]

Decades ago America should be sending Mississippi River water and Great Lakes water to the Deserts South West. Where humans can better use the water. And the evaporation cooling process would cool the planet down

[@Bigdog-th5oo]

40 million people use the Colorado River they said. I wonder how much that number would be knocked down if we removed the 33 million illegal immigrants. Not only does illegal immigration cost Tax Payers 162 Billion Dollars a year but also stuff like this. Huge water loss. Just imagine the water savings from 33 million people not being in the USA o

[@MrNick3742]

Since they're the ones farming all the food, it would decrease by about 100% when everyone starved. If we stopped farming cows and instead grew food for humans, we could easily pay everyone a living wage and there would be more than enough food and water for all of us.

[@frankblangeard8865]

They are not 'illegal immigrants'. They are undocumented Democrat voters.

[@harrytraction1380]

LA times?😂😂😂😂

[@mattcrawford713]

Thank you LA times for highlighting. Also really appreciate your frequent articles advocating for native plants and lawn removal

[@Arizonafishing]

Very convenient that California was not covered much if not at all, when California takes most of the water……

[@frankblangeard8865]

19:53

[@artransue]

The guys saying Alfalfa grows best here...... but it is a water intensive crop. Then obviously it's not best for there. Crazy concept.

[@Winterascent]

Grows best isn't the best crop.

[@tblcville]

the fact we think we can live anywhere we want ,building subdivisions and golf courses all over the deserts of our country will lead to our own demise....yet most of humanity is seldom aware of these issues while profit margins remain high, its hard to say no to 6 figures, mansions and country clubs ..when the mansions burn down the country clubs and golf courses dry up , no one is buying your mansion in the desert it will be painfully clear how stupid we have been .... the amount of areas that are completely unlivable without water being diverted into these areas are so widespread that they are beyond counting ... gotta say when people in the high desert complain about their neighborhood not having enough water i find myself saying ....well yea you live in a desert dumasp good call

[@Undefeated0-0]

16:17 yall messed up. these people knew how to live with the earth, we are so greedy today