PART I 1-5

• 1)Describe the location of the Salton Sea. What is the climate and geography of the area

• Colorado DesertImperial / Riverside counties, California, USA. It is located in a valley below sea level, in a desert. There are a few rivers feeding it (New and Alamo rivers)

2) How did the Salton Sea form? Explain what role humans played

• The New River and Alamo River sporadically dumped the volume of the Colorado river into the Salton Sink (the valley). Humans tried to stop the inflow but ended up making it worse.

3) What is the present condition of this body of water? How has it changed over the last 30+ years?

• The rivers carry in dissolved salt. The only outflow from the Sea is through evaporation, which leaves salt behind. The water has gotten saltier and saltier, which is bad for the fish. There have been suggestions of piping in low salinity sea water and piping out high salinity sea water, but it is extremely expensive.

4) Describe several ways the Salton Sea has altered the ecosystem of the region. Explain the stability of that ecosystem. How is it changing over time?

• At first, the Salton Sea increased the biodiversity of the region, forming a new lake with fish and many species of birds. The ecosystem is very unstable and is only getting worse. The water is increasing in salt concentration by 1% annually.

5)List and explain three environmental and three economic reasons why the Salton Sea is important

• Environmental: 1) Over 400 species of birds have been documented there; it is an now an important location for certain migratory birds. 2) It is home to many species of fish and birds; it is high in biodiversity. 3) fishing; provides food for some surrounding populations

• Economic: 1) bird watching; brings in tourists and consequently money. 2) recreational activities; brings in money. 3) fishing; brings in money and attracts sport fishers.

Works Cited

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_sea#Avian_population

• http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/salton/Salton%20Sea%20Description.html

6.What steps have been taken (and are being taken)

to remediate the Salton Sea? What are the chances of success? Explain.

• Nothing has been done but many things have been proposed such as: piping out water to Mexico, constructing dams or canals, and desalinating the water and incorporating in into the drinking water supply.

• There are very slight chances of success because the situation seems beyond remediation.

7.Discuss the similarities and differences between

the Salton Sea and Lake Chad in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Both are lakes in turmoil. Salton for the ecosystem and Chad for the people dependant on it.

• The Salton Sea is becoming increasingly salty while Lake Chad is shrinking.

8. Where is Lake Chad located? What is its importance? How has it changed? Why has it changed?

• Lake Chad is situated between Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad and provides a major source of water for those regions.

• It has shrunk from 25,000 km2 to 1,500 km2.• This has been blamed on overgrazing and the

resulting desertification. Others blame inefficient human water use.

9.What former Soviet republics border the Aral Sea?

• Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

10.Which rivers mainly supply the Aral Sea?

• The Amu Darya and the Syr Darya.

11. What government agency is responsible for the Aral Sea and its plight?

• The World Bank Uzbek mission (of the Uzbekistanian government) is responsible.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_government_agency_is_responsible_for_the_aral_sea_and_its_plight#ixzz1JQhUlILm

12. Why was the water supply to the Aral Sea diverted?

• In the early 1960s, the Soviet government decided that the two rivers that fed the Aral Sea, the Amu Darya in the south and the Syr Darya in the northeast, would be diverted to irrigate the desert, in order to attempt to grow rice, melons, cereals, and cotton.

Read more:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea

13. What resources did the Aral Sea supply to the local inhabitants?

• The Aral Sea was a source of fish, commerce, transportation, and recreation.

Read more: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080916081427AAW0GN4

14. Describe three environmental effects of the fading of this sea?

• First the devastation of all ecosystems and biodiversity in the area because the only biologically rich environment of that area was the Aral Sea. Now, the process of desertification has been more than tripled. Second, the water that is left in the Aral Sea has such a high percentage of salt, it has become toxic. Lastly, The receding sea has left huge plains covered with salt and toxic chemicals – the results of weapons testing, industrial projects, pesticides and fertilizer runoff – which are picked up and carried away by the wind as toxic dust and spread to the surrounding area.

Read more:• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea#Impact_on_environment.2C_

economy_and_public_health• http://www.adb.org/Documents/Presentations/RC_Shared_Water/

Ataniyazova.pdf

15. Describe three economic impacts in the region because of the water diversion

• First, the Aral Sea fishing industry that reportedly produced one-sixth of the Soviet Union's entire fish catch, has been decimated. Also, the water diversion destroyed the muskrat trapping industry in the area, which used to yield as much as 500,000 muskrat pelts a year. Lastly, through the devastation of these industries many thousands of people lost their only source of income or food or both.

Read more:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea

Questions 16-20

Brennan Kelly

16. How is the situation of the Salton Sea similar to the Aral Sea? How is it different?

• Recent major environmental changes that were caused by humans. Potential dangers from military toxins/wastes. Loss of fisheries due to human-caused environmental changes. Sea water that is polluted by sewage, pesticides, defoliants, selenium (SS), agent orange (AS), and DDE (SS). Salinity at near-fatal (SS) or fatal (AS) level for sea-living organisms. Salinity levels that are still on the rise. Major source of airborne particles (dust) for their respective regions. Cotton growing regions. Closed systems, with no outlet except for evaporation. The health of animals and people in the areas have been negatively affected. Long history of natural cycles of drying up and re-establishing bodies of water.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_do_Salton_and_Aral_Seas_have_in_common#ixzz1JQhf49cy

17. How would you describe this region today, other than a “sea”?

• Salton- a saline lake that was formed in a large basin • created San Andreas fault • became lake in 1891 • dried up within a year• Aral- Formerly one of the four largest lakes in the world • shrinking since the 1960s • Due to Soviet Union irrigation projects• split into four lakes • By 2009, the south-eastern lake had disappeared and • south-western lake retreated to a thin strip

http://visearth.ucsd.edu/VisE_teach/lessons/Aral_SaltonLP.html

18. Explain five health effects on people related to the vanishing Aral sea

• Digestive disorders• Anaemia• Liver and kidney problems• High cancer rate• High rate of lung diseases• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea

19. How can the Aral Sea be realistically rehabilitated?

• Many solutions have been suggested over the years

• Improving the quality of irrigation canals• Installing desalination plants• Charging farmers to use the water from the rivers• Using alternative cotton species that require less

water• Using fewer chemicals on the cotton• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea

20. Compare the situation in Mono Lake in Cali with that of the Aral Sea

• Caused by ill thought-out diversions of their natural sources of water

• The Owens River for Mono Lake • The Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers for the Aral Sea

both are now desolate Severe effects on the area they are in• Including health and environmental effects

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_are_the_problems_between_Mono_Lake_and_the_Aral_Sea_similar#ixzz1JQkO4z9E

Question 21 -25

Zachary Cornelius

Question 21

• The Mono Lake problem arose from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) diverting excessive amounts of water from Mono Basin streams.

• http://www.monolake.org/about/

Question 22

• 1. They both got depleted because diversions from the feeder rivers.

• 2. They both had a dramatic increase in the salinity of the water after the water levels dropped.

• 3. Both problems lead to devastating consequences for the ecosystems.

• http://www.orexca.com/aral_sea.shtml• http://www.monolake.org/about/

Question 23

• The problems of Mono Lake are different from those of the Aral Sea because

• 1. Mono Lake was saved by the Mono Lake Committee• 2. Russia wanted to take the water to grow crops with, where

as Los Angeles took the water to support a growing population

• 3. The fishing industries were ruined for the Aral Sea because all the fish died, where as in Mono Lake there are still shrimp.

• http://www.monolake.org/about/• http://www.orexca.com/aral_sea.shtml

Question 24

• In 1994, after over a decade of litigation, the California State Water Resources Control Board ordered DWP to allow Mono Lake to rise to a healthy level of 6,392 feet above sea level

• The Mono Lake Committee, founded in 1978, led the fight to save the lake with cooperative solutions.

• http://www.monolake.org/about/

Question 25

• The diversion of the Colorado River is different from that of the Salton Sea and the Aral Sea because the Colorado River Flows into a bay instead of a lake or sea so the water level of the bay will not be affected by its diversion.

• http://www.cpluhna.nau.edu/Change/waterdevelopment1.htm

derp

Bah james kraus

26

• The Aral sea basically had it’s sources diverted elsewhere for irrigation and has shrunk massively. The Salton sea is currently growing in size. The Aral sea is currently fighting massive amounts of pollution, while the Colorado River Basin has been cleaned up by the Clean Water Act.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea

27

• A tributary or affluent is a stream or river which flows into a main stem (or parent) river or a lake.

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

28

• Most of the water of the Colorado River Basin originates upstream at the Glen Canyon Dam which is filled from precipitation and melting snow in the mountains of Colorado.

• http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/contracts/watersource.html

29

• The Gunnison, Green, San Juan, and Little Colorado are the main tributaries in the upper basin of the Colorado; the Gila is the chief tributary of the lower basin.

• The Little Colorado rivers primary source is the West Fork of the Little Colorado River. The Gila River has its source in western New Mexico, in Sierra county on the western slopes of Continental divide in the Black Range.

• http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/us/A0812939.html

Water Diversions Research 30-33

Brandon HarrisPd: 4

30) What is the most important origin of water in the Colorado River?

• Most of the river water is supplied by runoff from high mountain systems. – In turn these systems act as a source for

tributaries which run into the Colorado River.

31) Who decides where the water in the river system goes?

• The seven states of the Colorado River basin collectively decide how the water is allocated via the Colorado River Compact.– an agreement established in 1922.

32) What is a watershed?

• A watershed is the area of land within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community.

• Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes. • In the continental US, there are 2,110 watersheds;

including Hawaii Alaska, and Puerto Rico, there are 2,267 watersheds.

33) How is the Colorado River resource divided between the various

states In the watershed and the beyond?

• The 1922 Colorado River Compact divided the river between the upper and lower basins and reserved unused water for future development in the four upper basin states.

SOURCES

• http://water.epa.gov/type/watersheds/whatis.cfm

• http://ag.arizona.edu/AZWATER/arroyo/101comm.html

Questions 34-37

John Arsenault

34. How do the individual states use the water?

• The water from the Colorado River goes through dams which send the water into aqueducts and from there the water is used in all different areas such as agricultural use, drinking water, and used for livestock.

• http://ag.arizona.edu/azwater/arroyo/101comm.html

35. Describe some of the conflicts that arise over water use. How are they usually resolved?

• When a fish is named an endangered or a threatened species, conflicts usually arise on how the water is used in the area where the certain fish live. To resolve these conflicts, conferences usually take place where they come to the agreement on the best way to use the water in these areas.

• http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/More-conflict-expected--over-Colorado-River

36. How are the conflicts between public and private use managed?

• The Colorado River Salinity Control Program comes up with the answer to the conflicts between public and private water use.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River_Basin_Salinity_Control_Program

37. Serious differences with Mexico exist concerning the amount of water the Mexicans receive from the

river. Explain why this problem exists and what can be done to work out this dispute between the countries.

• The problem exists because droughts and other climate changes occur and change the way that water can be used in the Mexico area. The conflict was resolved by the Colorado River conflict between Mexico and the United States.

38-41

Tali Schroeder, 4th

38.

• The countries through which the Tigris and Euphrates flow are more arid than the western US.

• Countries may have disputes over water. • Ex: Syria wanted to build a dam, but doing so

would deprive Iraq of water. The Syrians deployed troops to prevent sabotage by Iraqi commandos.

39.

• The Yangtze and the Colorado rivers are both being used for populations too large to supply to sustainably.

40.

• The Three Gorges Dam– Supplying hydroelectric power to the region – Reducing the potential for floods downstream

• flood storage

– Augmenting shipping capacity of the river

41.

• The Three Gorges Dam– Increases the risk of landslides– Crosses geological fault lines– Located in a heavily populated area– Home to threatened flora and fauna– Disrupts aesthetics of area

Sources

• http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/tigris.htm• http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-06/01/

content_885084.htm• http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2008/dec/

21/1n21colorado211057-colorado-river-may-face-fight-i/

• http://www.businessinsider.com/three-gorges-dam-south-to-north-water-diverson-project-china-2010-7