This Is What the Colorado River Looks Like by the Time It Reaches Mexico

Hint: It's not a pretty picture

July 7, 2018

The Colorado River Delta, Mexico, 2009

The Colorado River Delta, Mexico, 2009 | Photo by Peter McBride 

This Is What the Colorado River Looks Like by the Time It Reaches Mexico

Hint: It's not a pretty picture.

The Colorado River Delta in Mexico was once the largest desert estuary in North America. During a 1920s canoe trip to the area, the ecologist Aldo Leopold found waters of "a deep emerald blue," "a verdant wall of mes­quite and willow," and thousands of birds, including "fleets of cormorants." Today, unsustainable water withdrawals in the United States have left the riverbed a parched landscape. Most years, the Colorado never reaches the sea.

This article appeared in the July/August 2018 edition with the headline "Not a Drop to Drink."