# Colorado river reaches sea for first time in decades **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 19, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colorado-river-reaches-sea-for-first-time-in-decades/688752 "2014-05-19T17:47:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colorado-river-reaches-sea-for-first-time-in-decades/688752/1 "2014-05-19T17:47:14Z")
[http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25587-colorado-river-reaches-sea-for-first-time-in-decades.html#.U3pBK2d3s5s](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25587-colorado-river-reaches-sea-for-first-time-in-decades.html#.U3pBK2d3s5s) > [@](#): > > The fresh waters of the Colorado river reached the Gulf of California at high tide on Thursday, the first time in decades that the river has flowed all the way to the sea. Wow! I didn’t know this … mostly due to the fact that I don’t live in Mexico, but I do look at my wall map everyday that shows the Colorado River flowing out of California and towards what looks like the Gulf of California. The next you know they will tell me that the Rio Grande River doesn’t flow all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Wait I already knew that lol The Rio Grande stops 2 and 1/2 miles from the Gulf of Mexico with all of the water being used for agriculture by both countries. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colorado-river-reaches-sea-for-first-time-in-decades/688752/2 "2014-05-19T18:06:20Z")
I thought the Rio Grande issue was something that was temporary in the early 2000’s. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colorado-river-reaches-sea-for-first-time-in-decades/688752/3 "2014-05-19T18:09:48Z")
It says in the article that “a huge pulse of water” was released from a dam. I don’t mean to be a cynic, but is this anything other than a temporary “feel-good” measure? A pulse, by definition, is a transient phenomena. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colorado-river-reaches-sea-for-first-time-in-decades/688752/4 "2014-05-19T18:14:55Z")
[Here’s](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=12&cad=rja&uact=8&sqi=2&ved=0CGkQFjAL&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coloradocollege.edu%2FdotAsset%2F1701538a-f37c-44bd-9b3e-0badfbd54e27.pdf&ei=E0h6U9SZC4qLqga77YHoCQ&usg=AFQjCNHhp-Y0S4Humy85wBU2jPql5selDw) an interesting quick read **(PDF)** about the Colorado from ‘source to sea’ by a couple of students that captured the trip in pictures and a brief report. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colorado-river-reaches-sea-for-first-time-in-decades/688752/5 "2014-05-19T18:36:00Z")
Good news. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colorado-river-reaches-sea-for-first-time-in-decades/688752/6 "2014-05-19T18:44:51Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > It says in the article that “a huge pulse of water” was released from a dam. I don’t mean to be a cynic, but is this anything other than a temporary “feel-good” measure? A pulse, by definition, is a transient phenomena. [Here is an article explaining the pulse.](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25278-colorado-river-delta-revived-by-historic-water-release.html#.U3pQQ3ZN-So) It says the pulse is supposed to last eight weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colorado-river-reaches-sea-for-first-time-in-decades/688752/7 "2014-05-19T19:30:28Z")
That’s all well & good, but it sounds like after 8 weeks everything is going to go back to normal. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colorado-river-reaches-sea-for-first-time-in-decades/688752/8 "2014-05-19T20:43:04Z")
Rivers, especially in dry areas like much of the Colorado’s run, routinely have heavy floods. Damming the rivers has prevented this natural behavior. The purpose of the pulse is to simulate such a flood. This does all sorts of nice things to the ecosystems along the banks of the river, replenishing sand bars, etc. Being a pulse is a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colorado-river-reaches-sea-for-first-time-in-decades/688752/9 "2014-05-19T22:44:00Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > I thought the Rio Grande issue was something that was temporary in the early 2000’s. [http://ask.webswers.com/what-city-is-on-the-rio-grande-river](http://ask.webswers.com/what-city-is-on-the-rio-grande-river) I think this web page got it from the Wikipedia article on the Rio Grande, but I don’t like to go there. > [@](#): > > “During the summer of 2001 a 100m wide sandbar formed at the mouth of the river, marking the first time in recorded history that the Rio Grande failed to empty into the Gulf of Mexico. The sandbar was subsequently dredged, but it re-formed almost immediately. Spring rains the following year flushed the re-formed sandbar out to sea, but it was back by summer 2002. Since then the sandbar has remained and now forms a usable land bridge between the US and Mexico. Ecologists fear that unless rainfall returns to normal levels during the next few years and strict water conservation measures are adopted by communities along the river, the Rio Grande may soon become extinct.” ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colorado-river-reaches-sea-for-first-time-in-decades/688752/10 "2014-05-20T04:32:00Z")
I just learned about a year ago that the Colorado River I’ve been on my whole life in Texas is not the same Colorado River… ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2014, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colorado-river-reaches-sea-for-first-time-in-decades/688752/11 "2014-05-20T06:08:35Z")
[This might be the last time that this happens.](http://durangoherald.com/article/20140515/NEWS01/140519669/Lake-Powell-could-%E2%80%98call%E2%80%99-on-our-local-reservoirs-)