Colorado River in Crisis: A Los Angeles Times documentary

Journalists from the Los Angeles Times travel along the Colorado River to examine how the Southwest is grappling with the water crisis.

The Colorado River can no longer withstand the thirst of the arid West. Water drawn from the river flows to millions of people in cities from Denver to Los Angeles and irrigates vast farmlands.

For decades, sections of the river have been entirely used up, leaving dusty expanses of desert where water once flowed to the sea in Mexico. Now, chronic overuse and the effects of climate change are pushing the river system toward potential collapse, with depleted reservoirs near the lowest levels since they were filled. A water reckoning is about to transform the landscape of the Southwest.

Colorado River in Crisis follows Los Angeles Times journalists traveling throughout the river’s watershed, from the headwaters in the Rocky Mountains to the river’s dry delta. These stories reveal the stark toll of the river’s decline, responses that have yet to match the scale of the crisis, and voices that are urging a fundamental rethinking of how water is managed and used to adapt to the reality of an overtapped and dwindling river.

This documentary was filmed and produced by Albert Brave Tiger Lee, with reporting by Ian James and other L.A. Times journalists. Consulting producers included Maggie Beidelman, Robert Meeks and Erik Himmelsbach-Weinstein. (46 minutes)

Read the L.A. Times series Colorado River in Crisis: https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/colorado-river-in-crisis

0:00 Intro
2:20 The Headwaters of the Colorado River
8:03 The River Keeper
15:50 Tribes push for change
19:53 Agriculture under Pressure
27:54 Growing suburbs in the desert
34:53 A Water Reckoning
40:01 The River’s End

READ THE SERIES:
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/colorado-river-in-crisis

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