Posts Tagged ‘water’
Panoramas
Desert Farming
The Imperial Valley in the Southeast corner of California is one of the most productive agricultural areas of the US. Due to almost 360 days of sun a year and abundant Colorado water that is shipped to the area by the All American Canal, the fields are green all year round. It does look a little strange though to see sand dunes just on the edge of the fields.
Suburb of Salton City
Salton City was supposed to become the capital of the Salton Sea area. A recreational zone that was dubbed the Riviera of California. After a flood that destroyed many houses and marinas and a strong rise in salt level of the inland sea, the tourists stayed away and the City was never developed. Everything is there: roads, power, water and a sewage system, but houses were never built.
Expansion into the desert
New suburbs are being created and older ones are expanded to accommodate the rise in population of Phoenix.
Arrowhead Lake Association, living with water
Arrowhead Lake Association is said to be the largest man made residential lake in the world. It is located in Phoenix Arizona, where temperatures in the summer reach up to 48 degrees Celsius. For water conservation reasons reclaimed waste water is used to fill the lake. This waste water therefore doesn’t flow back to the Colorado River.
Ronald at work
Ronald at work at the Grand Canyon.
Grand Canyon fire hazard
The north rim of the Grand Canyon is much less visited than the southern side. The area is very dry and forest fires have destroyed large parts of the area.
Large areas of the Kaibab forest on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon have been destroyed by fire.
The Venetian Casino, Las Vegas
The Venetian Casino, with Gondolas moving around in artificial canals.
The Gondolas at the Venetian
Golf Courses near Vegas
Golf course near Las Vegas. The bright green grass of the many golf courses in the American Southwest are a stark contrast to the desert landscapes.
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.
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.