- Resource System
- River ecosystem
- Resource Units
- Colorado River
- Location
- Gulf of California
The Colorado River delta is significantly degraded due to a history of infrastructure building resulting in changed water flows, the rise of agriculture in the semi-arid American west, increasing urbanization and over-allocation of limited reserves of water. These factors have been explored in details in this case.
Colorado River System Representation
Resource System
Colorado River
Resource Users
Farmers, fishermen, water supply companies, power companies, cities and municipalities
Public Infrastructure Providers
International Boundary & Water Commission (IBWC) refereeing between US and Mexico.
Bureau of Reclamation as owner, operator and manager of water infrastructure and water delivery.
State agencies that manage water transactions and water rights.
Irrigation districts and municipalities that regulate water delivery to users within their purview.
Public Infrastructure
Dams, storage reservoirs, canals and diversions, flood control structures
Relationship 1
Agriculture is heavily subsidized. Water conservation or efficiency of use is bizarrely penalized.
Relationship 2
(none specified)Relationship 3
(none specified)Relationship 4
(none specified)Relationship 5
(none specified)Relationship 6
Numerous hard public infrastructure built to control water supply has resulted in decreased flow variation in short-term but increased system vulnerability in the long-term.
Exogenous Drivers 7 (Resource System)
Inefficient and excessive use of water for irrigation has resulted in significant degradation in water quality and quantity available to downstream users as well as salinization of surface and ground water and cultivable floodplain, resulting in restriction in cop choice that can be grown in a saline environment.
Exogenous Drivers 7 (Public Infrastructure)
(none specified)Exogenous Drivers 8 (Resource Users)
Fuzzy property rights associated with water has led to increased prevalence of water conflict. Water trading is prevalent but only in a very localized and limited form and within a state. Increasing urbanization and growing water stress is leading to more water being allocated toward urban use and away from agricultural use.
Exogenous Drivers 8 (Public Infrastructure Providers)
(none specified)Human Infrastructure, Private and Human-Made (Resource Users)
(none specified)Human Infrastructure, Private and Human-Made (Public Infrastructure Providers)
(none specified)Srinivasan J, Arizona State University.
Brady U, Arizona State University.
. 2015. Colorado River Governance - An Analysis. SOS 591: Applied Robustness Analysis in Social-Ecological Systems.