Yesterday, my daughter and I participated in a fascinating Northern Water tour to the headwaters of the Colorado River (CR) to learn how water is diverted across the Continental Divide (under Rocky Mountain National Park!)
I also recently read Where the Water Goes, a book that follows the CR from the headwaters I visited yesterday all the way to Mexico. Read the New Yorker article by David Owen that he expanded into this fascinating book.
While I do not live in the natural Colorado River basin, the CR provides a portion of the water I use whether I am at home in Los Angeles County or Boulder.
Bad Dad bought me a signed copy of the book when David Owen visited {pages}. He wondered if I would learn anything new because I'm such a water geek and I also work in environmental science.
The answer is an unequivocal, "Yes!"
Water is complex. Although I already knew most of the environmental science, the history and rationale for past decisions were mostly news and fascinating. The NPR story gives a hint of some of the things you can learn in the book.
Your homework is to read the New Yorker article and my past water posts. If you like the NY article, then read the book. (Even though I own a physical copy, I checked an ebook out from the library so I could read it on the go on my phone.)
Then we will dive into water issues. It will be a highly idiosyncratic tour with stops where I think the issues need better explanation.
Your tour guide will be me, a lifelong outdoors woman who grew up in the American west, earned a BS in chemistry, a PhD in physics and works as a weather and climate data specialist. I also hang out with a lot of people who are as interested in water as I am and have lots of tidbits to share.
Rain gear and waterproof shoes are optional.
* Have I written only 34 past posts about water? I thought I wrote more often about it. I might not have tagged all pertinent blog posts and will go back and rectify that when I have more time.
Got my weekend reading sorted then! Looking forward to it.
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