The Colorado River, drinking water source for one in ten Americans, is severely impacted. A new interactive visualization illustrates just how dramatic the problem has become.
The U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, and the Bureau of Reclamation have released an interactive drought visualization tool called "Drought in the Colorado River Basin - Insights Using Open Data." The visualization tool is a component of the Department of the Interior's Open Water Data Initiative, which the departmant's website describes as "a multi-agency effort to showcase the usefulness of open data (i.e., data provided in a discoverable, sharable, and machine-readable format) by exploring the current 16-year drought and its effects on the Colorado River Basin."
The tool is essentially a story told in eleven chapters. Nitty gritty about the infrastructure built up along the watershed can be found in chapter four—"Control Structures." The role of growth and development in the Western United States is addressed in chapter eight—"Supply & Demand." Each chapter includes supporting maps, infographics, and photos, as well as links to additional reading.
Read the full story: Drought in the Colorado River Basin
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