Climatic backdrop for Pueblo cultural development in the southwestern United States

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | May 24th, 2022

While climatic triggers for collapse and population migrations of ancestral Pueblo communities have been proposed, little is known about the overall climatic backdrop for

While climatic triggers for collapse and population migrations of ancestral Pueblo communities have been proposed, little is known about the overall climatic backdrop for the entire pre-Hispanic Pueblo period (ca. 1300 to 460 B2K). Here, we report data from stalagmite HC-1, from Hidden Cave, Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico, covering the past 3400 years, showing an interval of increased frequency of droughts from 1260 to 370 yr B2K that is coeval with the entire pre-Hispanic Pueblo period. Our record suggests that this puebloan Late Holocene climatic interval was the most arid and highly variable climatic period of the last 3400 years. Climatic conditions favoring the introduction of cultivation existed prior to the Pueblo period during more pluvial-like conditions from at least 3400 to 1260 yr B2K. Hence, the change from the Desert Archaic/Basketmaker to Pueblo cultures was associated with a quick transition to increasing aridity into and through the Pueblo period associated with greater urbanization and the establishment of pueblo population centers.

Climatic Fluctuations, Drought, and Flow in the Colorado River Basin

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | August 16th, 2004

Colorado River Accounting and Water Use Report - Arizona, California, and Nevada, Interior Region 8: Lower Colorado Basin

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) | May 13th, 2022

Colorado River Accounting and Water Use Report: Arizona, California, and Nevada

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) | May 15th, 2024

In accordance with Article V of the Consolidated Decree of the United States Supreme Court in Arizona v. California et al. 547 U.S. 150 (2006) (Consolidated Decree): �

In accordance with Article V of the Consolidated Decree of the United States Supreme Court in Arizona v. California et al. 547 U.S. 150 (2006) (Consolidated Decree): “The United States shall prepare and maintain, or provide for the preparation and maintenance of, and shall make available, annually and at such shorter intervals as the Secretary of the Interior shall deem necessary or advisable, for inspection by interested persons at all reasonable times and at a reasonable place or places, complete, detailed and accurate records of: (A) Releases of water through regulatory structures controlled by the United States; (B) Diversions of water from the mainstream, return flow of such water to the stream as is available for consumptive use in the United States or in satisfaction of the Mexican Treaty obligation, and consumptive use of such water. These quantities shall be stated separately as to each diverter from the mainstream, each point of diversion, and each of the States of Arizona, California and Nevada; (C) Releases of mainstream water pursuant to orders therefor but not diverted by the party ordering the same, and the quantity of such water delivered to Mexico in satisfaction of the Mexican Treaty or diverted by others in satisfaction of rights decreed herein. These quantities shall be stated separately as to each diverter from the mainstream, each point of diversion, and each of the States of Arizona, California and Nevada; (D) Deliveries to Mexico of water in satisfaction of the obligations of Part III of the Treaty of February 3, 1944, and, separately stated, water passing to Mexico in excess of treaty requirements; (E) Diversions of water from the mainstream of the Gila and San Francisco Rivers and the consumptive use of such water, for the benefit of the Gila National Forest.” This Colorado River Accounting and Water Use Report: Arizona, California, and Nevada presents the records compiled pursuant to the Consolidated Decree for Calendar Year 2023. Copies of this and previous years’ reports may be found on the Bureau of Reclamation’s website.

Colorado River Aqueduct Recording Project 1998

National Park Service (NPS) | December 15th, 1988

The Colorado River Aqueduct Recording Project is part of the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), a long-range program that documents historically-significant eng

The Colorado River Aqueduct Recording Project is part of the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), a long-range program that documents historically-significant engineering, industrial, and maritime sites In the United States. The HAER program is administered by the Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) Division of the National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. The recording project was co-sponsored during the summer of 1998 by HABS/HAER under the general direction of E. Blaine Oliver, Chief; and by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Gary M. Snyder, Chief Engineer, and Wally M. Lieu, Assistant Chief Engineer. The measured drawings, historical report, and photographs were prepared under the direction of Eric N. DeLony, Chief of HAER, The recording team included Supervisory Architect Andrew Johnston (University of California, Berkeley) and architects Chrysti Chun (Illinois Institute of Technology), Imola Klrlzsa'n (ICOMOS, Romania), Sydney Mainster (University of California, Berkeley), Elizabeth Mllnarik (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), and Nina Shatberashvili (ICOMOS, Republic of Georgia); Project Historian J. Philip Gruen (University of California, Berkeley); and photographer Jet Lowe (Washington, D. C.) Additional drawings were provided by architects Christopher B. Brown (University of Washington) and Adrim Maksay (Transylvania Trust Foundation, Romania). Engineer Allien Whitsett (Metropolitan Water District of Southern California) provided consultation and advice. Devon Kobayashi (Metropolitan Water District of Southern California) served as HAER liaison.

Colorado River Aqueduct Route Selected for Metropolitan Water District Requires Pumping

Civil Engineering | February 10th, 1931

Colorado River Aqueduct, Historic American Engineering Record

National Park Service (NPS) | August 1st, 1998

The Colorado River Aqueduct pumps water from the Colorado River through, over, and across mountains and desert in a 242- mile-longmarchtothecoastalplainofSouthernCaliforn

The Colorado River Aqueduct pumps water from the Colorado River through, over, and across mountains and desert in a 242- mile-longmarchtothecoastalplainofSouthernCalifornia. When completed,itwasoneofthelongestwater-conveyancefacilitiesin the world. The aqueduct includes power lines, tunnels, siphons, covered conduits, open canals, dams, reservoirs, and five pumping plants, involving ingenious engineering solutions and newly- introduced construction equipment. The project also employed over 35,000 people during its eight-year span and as many as 10,000 at one time, making it southern California's single-largest work opportunity during the Great Depression. In 1995, the Colorado River Aqueduct was named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Today, it is the major water supply for urban and suburban southern California.

Colorado River Basin August 2022 24-Month Study

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) | August 16th, 2022

Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology State of the Science

University of Colorado, Boulder | April 15th, 2020

The Colorado River Basin currently faces unprecedented stresses. Persistent dry conditions since 2000, along with the increasing recognition that warming temperatures are

The Colorado River Basin currently faces unprecedented stresses. Persistent dry conditions since 2000, along with the increasing recognition that warming temperatures are impacting the hydrology of the basin, have led to great concerns about the long-term reliability of basin water supplies. With ever-higher stakes for water resource planning and decision making, an even greater emphasis is placed on the tools that support those activities, notably Reclamation’s operations and planning models and similar models used at other agencies. The usefulness of these system models depends on many types of datasets and forecasts that serve as inputs to them, as well as the research and scientific understanding underpinning this complex chain of data and models. The development and refinement of the different links of the chain necessarily involves researchers, forecasters, and water managers. New research efforts have advanced our understanding of the hydroclimate of the basin and how key hydroclimate processes, variability, and changes can be captured in data and models. This rapid expansion of the scientific knowledge base, and the increasing complexity of the data and models used to operationalize that knowledge, parallel the growing uncertainties about the future climate and hydrology. Accordingly, basin stakeholders have recognized the importance of reassessing the scientific and technical basis for management and planning.

Colorado River Basin Environmental Transfers Scorecard

Stanford University | March 16th, 2017

The Colorado River and its tributaries support more than 35 million people and irrigate more than four million acres of farmland. At the same time, the river supports 30

The Colorado River and its tributaries support more than 35 million people and irrigate more than four million acres of farmland. At the same time, the river supports 30 fish species found nowhere else on earth and inspires millions of visitors and residents alike with its sheer beauty. However, growing water scarcity caused by increased water use, hydrologic variability and climate change loom over all the Colorado River provides. Click here for follow-up report.