Dead Pool

The speed at which the water levels have been dropping at the Nation’s largest two reservoirs—both on the over-allocated Colorado River—have made me think about a kind of picture that could be a symbol of the water crisis facing 40 million people in the Southwest. I thought about the Bathtub Ring—the white mineral deposit that marks the water level when full. It is a stark contrast to the natural rich dark red browns of the volcanic rock that makes up the majority of the canyon. It stands as clear evidence of the effects of climate change, and the way it has contributed to an ongoing twenty-year drought. The lake levels are made worse by the increased consumption of the waters of the Colorado, the warming and acidification of the west, and the accelerated loss of water due to lack of snow in the Rockies and other mountains feeding the tributaries of the Colorado river.