Less Info

Few areas on Earth exemplify the overexploitation of water resources more than the nearly dry delta of the Colorado River where it trickles into the Sea of Cortez between Sonora and Baja California, Mexico. In the early 1900s it was North America’s largest wetland, with 3,300 square miles of mesquite and willows supporting vast flocks of migratory birds, jaguars, and a thriving fishery in the northern gulf. Today it’s a vast sand flat starved of 90 percent of the Colorado’s water by a network of dams and irrigation projects that funnel it to 40 million people and more than 9,000 square miles of arid farmland across the southwestern United States.

Filename
STNMTZ_20010301_69B.TIF
Copyright
© 2005 George Steinmetz
Image Size
7226x4836 / 100.0MB
www.georgesteinmetz.com
Contained in galleries
Few areas on Earth exemplify the overexploitation of water resources more than the nearly dry delta of the Colorado River where it trickles into the Sea of Cortez between Sonora and Baja California, Mexico. In the early 1900s it was North America’s largest wetland, with 3,300 square miles of mesquite and willows supporting vast flocks of migratory birds, jaguars, and a thriving fishery in the northern gulf. Today it’s a vast sand flat starved of 90 percent of the Colorado’s water by a network of dams and irrigation projects that funnel it to 40 million people and more than 9,000 square miles of arid farmland across the southwestern United States.

All images ©George Steinmetz. Please contact us for usage.