Colorado River Delta

Until the early 20th century the Colorado River ran free from its headwaters in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado south into Mexico, where it emptied into the Gulf of California. Loads of nourishing silt from throughout the Colorado River Basin washed downstream, creating the vast Colorado River Delta.

Covering 1,930,000 acres, the delta extended from just north of the U.S.-Mexican border to the confluence of the Colorado and the Gulf. An abundant mix of plants and animals flourished there. The plentiful fish and wildlife drew the native Cucupa Indians to settle the area more than a thousand years ago, where they lived off the bounty of flora and fauna and farmed the fertile soils.

But in the 1930s, when water flows were all but cut off for agricultural development and to a lesser degree for municipal uses, the delta began to dry up. The delta now hangs by a thread, struggling to sustain itself on less than 0.1 percent of the river's water. Not surprisingly, the amount of habitat has decreased and now supports far less plant and animal life. Diminishing wildlife in turn threatens the existence of human native people attempting to sustain themselves on the delta's natural resource base, as their ancestors had done for generations.

Even in its diminished state, the delta continues to provide the most important wetland habitat in the southwestern desert of North America and more native riparian habitat than on the rest of the lower Colorado River. The delta's amazing ability to survive on so little provides hope for the future. Small flows of Colorado River water have returned in recent decades, restoring habitat necessary to support endangered species with no where else to go. Also, brackish wastewater, unfit for human consumption and rerouted away from the main stem of the Colorado, is creating valuable wetlands. 

These two sources of water revitalizing the delta are not specifically designated for that purpose. Because the much sought-after water from the Colorado is already over-allocated, its continued flow into the delta is far from certain. The positive effects this water has had on an otherwise beleaguered and forgotten, but highly capable ecosystem suggest the water should be committed to the region, where it is invaluable to a host of plants and wildlife and to the continued way of life of the native peoples. 

Posted: 27-Jul-2007; Updated: 27-Jul-2007