The lush lawns and green golf courses of Southern California are an emblem of the desert Southwest’s dependence on the Colorado River. But they’re just a small part of the demands placed on this crucial water resource in times of both drought and plenty. The far bigger part, as much as 80%, comes from millions of acres of irrigated farms across the parched region.
Those farms play a crucial role in the economic health of California and the desert Southwest. But their water rights and consumption are increasingly at odds with the region's massive growth. As the seven states of the Colorado River Basin seek to preserve the river, agriculture must give up more.
The American Southwest has been farmed for thousands of years. But it was only in 1901 that the first irrigated water from the Colorado River reached California's forbidding Imperial County, where summer temperatures typically reach 110 degrees and rain is scarce. A decade later, irrigation brought Colorado River waters to Yuma, Arizona.
