1-weblog
Lake Mead / Hoover Dam
Lake Mead at the back side of the Hoover Dam. The white shore line marks the original water level.
The backside of the Hooverdam
On the backside of the Hoover Dam it is clearly visible how much the water level of Lake Mead has gone down in recent years. Due to a decade-long draught, levels in the Colorado have kept sinking.
Ronald at work
Ronald at the parking lot of the Hacienda hotel after a successful phone call. This hotel on the shore of Lake Mead is the closest hotel and casino to the Hoover Dam in Nevada.
Arrival in LA
We arrived in LA. The road trip starts tomorrow. Second stop: Hoover Dam.
Location of the Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is located 250 km Southeast of Los Angeles in the Imperial Valley. After Death Valley it’s the lowest point of North America. The climate is hot and dry. Ideal for farming, was the idea when an irrigation canal was constructed in 1901 to create a huge agricultural centre in the Imperial valley. the Sea got created when a dike of the canal burst after heavy rains in 1905. The lake was sustained by runoff water from the farms. This lightly saline water was polluted with pesticides which gave the Salton Sea its bad reputation.
Welcome
Welcome to River@Risk. A joint project of photojournalists Ronald de Hommel and Johannes Abeling. In the next years they will travel the world’s most strategic rivers to record the changing lives of the people that depend on the water they supply.
Rivers are more important than many people realise. Many countries in the world are almost 100% dependent on river water for their cities and agriculture. Cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix Arizona in the middle of the desert get all their water through long canals from the Colorado river.
Pakistan, in a virtual state of war with its neighbour India depends for its survival on a few rivers (of which the Indus is the most well know). They all originate the Himalayas and run through India-controlled Kashmir. And India is building dams, officially to generate energy for its growing population. But what if they close Pakistan’s water supply?
A changing climate also affects the flow of rivers. Some will reduce in size, others will suffer uncontrollable floods. Once thing is for sure: they will grow in importance and nations will have to react to those changes.
their first trip will go to the Colorado River in the west of the United States. They will follow the Colorado in its lower reach through the states of Nevada, Arizona and California until the disappearing mouth in Baja California, just across the border in Mexico.
One story will feature in this trip: the Salton Sea, California’s own Aral Sea disaster.
This weblog is the first step in a multimedia project where Johannes and Ronald will present images, videos stories and interviews all related to these rivers at risk. For now this website has the shape of a weblog. New additions will be uploaded regularly also after the end of the trip.
In the future this website will be expanded with more multi media features.
Enjoy!
Ronald & Johannes.
A New Photoblog By Ronald and Johannes
for our next trip to the States we will use this blog to keep you updated.