THE COLORADO RIVER BASIN The Colorado River, sometimes referred to as the Southwest’s “American Nile,” covers more than 1,450 miles on its sinuous journey toward the sea. Arising in the Colorado and Wyoming Rocky Mountains, its flows provide water for four million acres of farmland, seven National Wildlife Refuges, and 11 National Parks, while serving the needs of 40 million people, including 28 native tribes. Seventeen major dams back up its waters in pursuit of this service, contributing to a $26 billion recreation economy dependent not only on flatwater reservoirs, but also vigorous streamflows. Management efforts across the basin must span an international boundary, as well as the jurisdictions of seven U.S. states, which are in turn pooled into an “upper” and “lower” basin for the purposes of administration under the Colorado River Compact, established in 1922.
Gree n Ri ver
ID
WY
Fontenelle Reservoir FONTENELLE DAM
Great Salt Lake Flaming Gorge Reservoir
Salt Lake City
FLAMING GORGE DAM
Provo
ROCKY MOUNTAIN N. P.
Yampa River White River
Gree
n Ri
ver
Lake Granby
ive
ASPINALL UNIT
St. George
Lake Powell
GLEN CANYON DAM
GRAND CANYON N. P.
Farmington San Ju
San Diego Tijuana
Lake Havasu City
Albuquerque
CENTRAL ARIZONA PROJECT
Blythe
Phoenix
IMPERIAL DAM
Yuma
er Gila Riv
Gulf of California
Sa
lt R
NM
ive
ROOSEVELT DAM
Gil
r
ive
MAJOR DIVERSIONS IN THE LOWER BASIN
r
AREAS OUTSIDE OF BASIN RECEIVING BASIN WATER
Tucson
IT E ME D S TA XI CO TES
LEGEND LEG END
MAJOR DAMS IN THE BASIN
aR
UN
PACIFIC OCEAN
Sante Fe
AZ
PARKER DAM
MORELOS DIVERSION ALL-AMERICAN CANAL DAM
Mexicali
Flagstaff
er Riv
Salton Sea
o rad
COACHELLA CANAL
NAVAJO DAM
olo le C
DAVIS DAM
Needles COLORADO RIVER AQUEDUCT
an Riv er
Litt
Lake Mojave
Lake Havasu
Pueblo
CO
GLEN CANYON N.R.A.
HOOVER DAM
Los Angeles
COLORADO RIVER BASIN
Colorado Springs Gunnison River
Lee Ferry
Lake Mead
Las Vegas
CA
oR Co lo
CAPITOL REEF N.P.
Denver
rad
NV
Fort Collins Boulder
Grand Junction
r
UT
Cheyenne
NATIVE AMERICAN LANDS Nogales
M E XICO floo-uhnt water fact
18
Tributaries in the lower basin account for about 10 percent of the water supply along the last 688 miles of the lower Colorado. Source: Colorado River Water Users Association
CO LO R A D O FOU N DAT I O N FO R WAT E R E DUC AT I O N | YOU RWAT E RCO LO R A D O.O RG