The antithesis to the wholesale removal of cottonwood trees along the canals in metro Phoenix because they were considered water thieves, later realized that they prevented more loss by evaporation than they drank, in addition to the normal benefits of trees, especially in the desert.
Now that the Colorado river is diverted, how about the ecosystem of end of the river near to the sea? Is it justifiable to sacrifice this for the sake of the consumer upstream? Human engineering feats mostly do harm to environment than good since profitability comes first before the ecology.
@@typical_watcher4599 An interesting factoid: all the water used by Arizonans from the Colorado River stays within the river basin and can be sent back to the river to go to the sea. This would assume that AZ would “use” less water, in a permanent sense, than it takes out of the river, which has become political rather than mathematical. California on the other hand has almost no usage of the river water within the basin and effectively permanently exits it with no opportunity to exit to the Sea of Cortez., yet they get the majority of water use rights. Things that make you go hmm!
@@typical_watcher4599 "Human engineering feats mostly do harm to the environment than good [...good to the environment, that is] since profitability [...human benefit, you mean] comes before ecology [...another word for the environment]." Yes. The baby's bathwater serves the interests of the baby [It was not drawn from the faucet for the benefit of itself, but for the cleanliness of the baby]. Should it be the other way around? ...I mean, the very word "environment" means the surroundings or conditions in which something (the focus of one's attention or the center of one's value) lives. But, as an environmentalist ideologue, you really DO value the bathwater above the baby -- everything else surrounding human beings is valued more highly than the humans themselves. Now, what is the goal of "human engineering"? To shape nature for the benefit of human beings (and, in particular, THOSE humans who are paying for the engineering effort), ....yes? It's a matter of values. ....And the environmentalist pseudo-religion values EVERYTHING BUT the human beings.
One way to reduce evaporation is to do what they do in India, to build solar panels over the canal. The water will also cool the panels making them more efficient.
Yes they can but the thing is canal in India is smaller as compared to this canal installing solar panel will cost them hell of a money, man hour and resources.
@@TreyNitrotoluene Accidents like these forests are a great and wonderful thing that humanity can learn from and hopefully duplicate with greater efficiency in the future. This is how I believe you and I understood Andrew's intention with making this video. I cannot believe anyone seriously thinks that lawns, swimming pools, and golf courses were the reasons for the river being redirected unless they genuinely hate humanity.
When I moved from Oregon to Scottsdale 38 years ago, I was shocked that even though there was no local water, people wasted water on grass lawns, fountains, etc. The tap water stank and we all bought our drinking and cooking water. Then when it rained, there were flash floods, and no water harvesting. The irresponsibility was shocking.
Same time I got here. But the east valley had it's local water source. Water tested better than the Midwest. Mountain water. They don't call it snotsdale for nothing
Leaving shared assets to a monopoly creates an unaccountable mess know as "The Tragedy of the Commons". Private ownership works. Public doesn't. For proof, examine the waste of "public works" in every country, for millennia. It's been documented in history. Private roads and courts worked better, then govt. took over and people can't imagine it any other way. MSM is govt. propaganda, so you won't hear it there.
Republicans are going out of their way to specifically cut and sensor ecological education too. Can't burst the bubble of American meritocracy now. Got to keep up those appearances
Those people with green lawns came from places like Oregon, California, NY, etc. All that artificial green has increased the summer time humidity and all the asphalt and concrete has increased the city temperatures, especially the min temp at night.
@thanhavictus The conditioned idiocy of blaming everything under the sun on Republicans is stunning. You'll believe any claim made about them without question.
Lawns in AZ ought to be banned unless 100% watered by greywater. I left desert for Wisconsin, where water falls naturally from skies on a fairly regular basis, and it was excellent decision! Water plus CO2 is life.
Wow! I'm still stuck on the river was diverted and used to an extent that people downstream are effectively in a manmade water shortage. And then there's the issues of the communities that used to rely on the original course of the river. Not to mention the impact on the wildlife. It literally would have been easier to move to the original river and build there.
It’s a crime that communities south of the border are lacking water because we have diverted the rivers resource to build cities in barren wasteland. That is is the travesty of American ingenuity and innovation that he’s intentionally skipping over in his overview. This man made water shortage has devastated ecosystems and communities of people alike south of the border.
And the crazy part is alot of the water down stream that disappeared was vital to native reservations that the government then relocated them to land with water and sold the land for mining to the highest bidder.
Sadly, rich people that bought land cheap because it was desert use their influence to move the river and 'develop' those areas, everybody thought it was a win win for everybody excluding the mexicans. But sadly, that is still a desert area, eventually the desert is going to win.
The way he proudly says that people uses too much water, the river doesn't make it to the ocean is truly sad. The gulf is losing life because of the lack of minerals.
The most amazing thing being a gardener I learned is how plants provide shade and that cools that ground helps moisture retain it's beautiful. PLANT MORE TREES
Yes, water no longer flows into the ocean. A small city of Phoenix with a small water supply was allowed to grow into what it is by ruining the environment of the Southern Colorado River. Got to keep those swimming pools full. In the 1970's I knew an old Mexican man who told me that he & other fishermen fished at the confluence of the river & the river. It was a breeding ground for numerous species of fish. Not now, no water flows into the ocean & the breeding grounds are gone.
@@willbass2869 most of the Mexican people living in that area are of Native American decent.....Just more fall out of the greed of the white man since they invaded North America.
That diversion, and how it devastates the ecology and environment down river from the diversion, are the same issues we face here in South East Australia, where the Murray-Darling rivers have been diverted to grow crops that would not survive in the natural environments of the region. There are places where the river used to be 15 meters deep and paddle steamers used to travel, where you can now walk from bank to bank without getting wet feet. It's sad to see that this has been done to many rivers around the world, where too much water is taken out of them to allow their natural cycles to remain intact and supporting the flora and fauna native to places. We need smarter solutions, taken out of the control of companies and politicians.
Just look what happened to the Aral Sea in Central Asia, for the same reasons. It used to be the fourth largest lake in the world, but then the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers were diverted for irrigation projects. The former lakebed is a dust bowl now, only a relatively small pool of water in the north survives.
Don't forget that during early settlement in the 19th and early 20th century in the Murray-Darling Basin there used to be lots of Eucaluptus, Acacia, Casuarina and other types of forests that kept a natural flow of those 15-30 meter deep water rivers and inflow of rain etc. But after cutting most of it down to make way/clear land for agriculture, cattle, wool etc. the natural cycle/flow of water got interrupted. Meaning there were no trees to keep the soil together, eat up C02 (carbon dioxide) and create this evaporation to stimulate rainfall etc.
@@dvchel That contributed quite a great deal, but more on the side of whether the local ground water ran back to the river, whereas once they were cut down, irrigation channels took water out of the rivers in to the farms.That problem was a slow creep of the water into the large swaths of land used for wool and beef production across the plains near the Vic, NSW and SA borders. The real water drain started when Rice and the like began to be farmed further up-river, pulling more water out of the Darling, leading to the previously farmed areas of the Murry-Darling Basin not having the water coming in to it anymore. Even the healthiest of restored forests won't bring the rivers back if the water is never getting to it, which is the state of things with the current mis-management.
You should talk about the consequences of diverting the colorado river away from México, and the ecological consequences it had on Baja California Wetlands ecosystem, even if México and the U.S. has an ecological water treaty, the wetlands don't get water all the year as they used to and they struggle in 2/3 of the year.
Meanwhile, the Colorado River Delta has been reduced to around 5 percent of its historic biological footprint. These forests have developed concurrent with the demise of the Salton Trough.
Exactly what I was thinking. There's no such thing as a free lunch. That water is coming from somewhere, the water making these "forests" was originally going somewhere else. So you haven't really gained a forest, you just moved it. The guy also refers to water "lost" to evaporation like it no longer exists... where do you think it's going? Overall an interesting video but I'm skeptical of the point it's trying to make.
@@decidiousrex yeah I have to agree with you. He’s basically talking out of both sides of his mouth saying that it’s a good thing but yet it’s a bad thing and yada yada yada and it makes no sense because he’s contradicting himself is how I’m understanding this. So what is the point he’s trying to get at???……
@@donfredo8013 So what do you purpose? If everything done to the environment for the sake of water was turned back to how it was 100+ years ago, there wouldn’t be water for Los Angeles & for Phoenix & Tucson…. Sure many more cities. Perhaps you’re in line with Bill Gates in thinning out the world population?
I have no idea why RUclips recommended this video to me, but I'm glad it did. Very fascinating video on a subject I never heard before. Congratulations to the creator for presenting this subject in a very visual and intuitive way, even someone like me with absolutely zero prior knowledge on this is able to learn something new.
Looking at your footage it seems that power lines run parallel to the canal (at least for some of the length). It would be awesome to build pv solar panels above the canal providing shade over the water to help with cooling and reduce evaporation. Any condensation (if any) could be fed back into the canal or even collected in tanks to supply the surrounding plant growth.
@@amillison Solar panels over canals is a major undertaking in India. They both reduce evaporation and provide power without using agricultural land. BTW, do you know about the Paani Project? They seem to have made major changes in water retention and increasing agricultural yield. As the climate continues to warm, when it does rain it's likely to rain in larger quantities. It might be time to start working on water runoff in the US in a serious way.
Looks like a great 'unintended consequence'. My only concern would be for the land on the opposite side of the canal, as it is now robbed of the meager amounts of water it was receiving. The effects of that might be interesting to know as well.
The soil here gets a crust on it from baking in the sun and most of the water runs off anyway, at least initially. You're right about less surface water but to second Kitti, there will be more local groundwater. Given our heat, groundwater is better. What you're seeing on the dry side isn't uncommon as far as density of plants. Pretty healthy population, actually. On the fauna side, it can be like night and day. Everything from birds to lizards to rabbits to horses will gravitate to that big greenery, dozens of species, especially if there's standing water under the trees. It can be like being at the zoo.
Can't help but wonder what kind of problems have happened to the Colorado river because of this. Much of our local river is diverted. It has decimated local fish populations. There have been times when during fish spawning runs there has been no channel with water. The flows are sub-surface.
Where this river ends used to have flowers bloom every year before we as a species decided to divert it for our own needs in a desert. The green lawns should be outlawed in the US. They take so much water and chemicals to upkeep. If I ever get to own a home, I am letting it turn into flowers and sedges to help the critters more then I need a lawn.
1:50 After 20 years or drought, the Colorado River can no longer provide the water it used to. Those lawns are rapidly disappearing (I read last week that only 10% of homes in Phoenix sill have lawns having converted to native vegetation) amid other water conservation measures, and this year many farms are drastically reducing growing acreage as their water allotments are slashed. This is repeated throughout the southwest. Nevertheless, it is still very interesting so learn of the "accidental forest".
Are lawns practical in a desert environment where water is scarce? You can get away with it if you only have a small population, but AZ's population has grown to the point where it may no longer be sustainable.
@@jonathantan2469 No, they are not and I am glad to see the lawns go. Much more will be needed to allocate available water and to lower demand for this increasingly scarce resource.
Lawns here in the valley are silly and a pointless waste of water. If people want to grow things here at least choose native plants or useful ones, like food producing. I think there should be a ban on lawns and private pools. Private pools are a waste or space and water. Most people don’t use their private pools enough to justify their existence. We would be better served by adding more community pools.
@@luckyfeatherfarm4685 Yea I can understand why they want a swimmingpool. But it certainly don't need to be filled with freshwater, certainly not in a desert where water is scarce. Weird that no one has started an establishment which transports and sell seawater instead. For one person the cost would be huge, but together it could be viable and a much better alternative.
The Canadian city of Medicine Hat was founded and grew as a result of the trans-continental railway crossing the South Saskatchewan River in the 1860's. Pictures taken at the time reveal absolutely no vegetation in the area beyond grass and a few small shrubs immediately adjacent to the river. Now, giant trees line the banks, likely as a result of the irrigated lawns on the top of the banks, and subsequent runoff spilling down.
When covered wagons traveled the Oregon Trail, the Platte River had no trees along it at all. The volume of the river changed so much in the course of the year that trees could not root themselves--- washed out in high water and left high and dry in low water. Now that dams and dikes have stabilized the river, it is lined with cottonwoods the whole length.
*CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS* 1) MATH IS CORRECT: What I said was: "It was started in 1973, the year I was born, and it was completed in 1993. So this is about 30 years of this canal being here". This canal has been here since 1993. It is now 2022. That's about 30 years that this canal has been here. 2) The yearly evaporation from the canal is 5 _billion_ gallons, not 5 _million_ gallons. 3) The CAP doesn't _supply_ 80% of Arizona's population. It _reaches_ 80% of Arizona's population. These are two different things. Sorry about that!!!
it only takes 5 minutes of surfing youtube to realize the majority of commenters are over-opinionated imbeciles. no worries, man, don't let it get to you.
@@grantandrew619 Why the hell would anybody be negative in their reaction after watching this piece of knowledge?! What’s obvious is your dumbness. @Creator Thank you for this amazing video. I’m from a country with desert/water issues, i think my government can use this kind of solution to change the game completely.
you should change the description to reflect these numbers. you also need to correct the lake pleasant evaporation number you threw out. you also don't mention that youre ignoring seepage "losses". probably should make another video just digging into the numbers and get them right, if you can't change this video. i would say 4-5% system loss from CAP is pretty good. (you act like it's wasteful.) and most of that lost from lake pleasant. but we don't have any context here, if there are even better aquaduct systems out there. and we also don't see the losses from lake powell and the rest of the colorado's parasites. mollison's global gardener desert video was very moving to me when i first saw it. but having moved to the mojave and having travelled and lived in the sonoran for months around tucson and arizona generally, i found that it contains three major lies. 1) these embankment swales are useful and interesting, but they rob as much water downstream as they impound upstream. the swales he visited west of tucson are neat but definitely not an obvious model to copy. 2) dixon's imprinting method may work in marana, but it hasn't worked anywhere else i've been. 3) mollison claimed the saguaros in his video were the last of their kind -- no more canopy under which new babies could begin. he was flat wrong on that, and it's a big mistake for him to make, as a botanist. knowyourwaternews.com/3-facts-of-cap-efficiency-seepage-and-evaporation/
Only in the desert would anyone describe that as a "forest". Look, this is really fascinating, but I still find it asinine that Phoenix exists where it does, and takes all the water it does. Phoenicians pay less for their water than do denizens of St. Louis, which further contributes to the looming water crisis. Yes, Man can build some incredible infrastructure, but just because we can doesn't mean we should.
Indeed but you can't tell America most of their infrastructure inefficient asinine and poorly planned. They'll work with what they have... If you wanted sensibility you'd have to scrap whole states. They'll just keep expanding (as looming bankruptcy demands) till the whole thing collapses onto itself.
The next step would be to cover the canal with solar panels, at least where residents are near. They prevent evaporation of the water and work more efficiently bc of the water's cooling effect.
I’ve lived in the Phoenix metro area for 63 years. I’ve always been frustrated by “leadership’s” 1) refusal to acknowledge and respect our desert environment and 2) their willingness to indulge developers at the future detriment of our state.
@Latricia Cagle AMEN to that! Maybe one day APS will stop blocking the need solar development. Every roof needs to be solar. It is amazing how much they will build roads everywhere, but neccessary 'green' projects are not "cost effective" (eyeroll)
Yes! They could put swales at interval throughout the entire landscape. The optimum interval would depend on slope and the ground type of the catchment area.
@@amillison I would argue also the rainfall plays a role. In the end swales are places where precipitation accumulates, so in a very dry climate you need a large catchment area (i.e. large distance between swales) for putting together a significant amount of water.
@@nicolagiuliani3212 Yes. So you'd have to determine the optimum interval based on rainfall, slope, and ground coverage (runoff coefficient). Another important piece is the timing and intensity of rainfall. The monsoons are a big runoff event because the rain is so intense.
Yes. It would be a good idea across most of AZ, would greatly green desert, and might even be implemented, if bureaucrats were not 1) morons and 2) controlled by corps.
Came across this by accident? My dad was a draftsman working on this project in the 60's-70's. He would take me out to a couple areas and tell me what the plans were. He also pointed out how close the canal was to some fault lines. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Good video, Andrew. While you're in Arizona you might consider visiting the disaster called Wilcox, Arizona, where to feed an insatiable amount of cattle, they're growing a vast amount of acres of alfalfa right there in Wilcox. And to water that alfalfa, they're depleting the groundwater dry. Citizens in that area now have their well pipes dangling in the air, with the groundwater level dropping so much, that they are forced to move out of the area, or haul in their water. It's a crime what the cattle industry is doing to them. Thought you should know.
Man, that sucks so much! Alfalfa is actually a good crop to grow in arid climates, but one should not feed an overwhelming amount of cattle with it. Get a small herd of goats or sheep and you're good.
I've been to Wilcox. I actually took a permaculture course near Sunizona in the 90's. Although looking a the satellite now, it looks like the center pivot irrigation circles have blown up big time since I was there. That's a shame!
@@amillisonHowdy. I used to live outside Sunsites...built the first ultra-tiny strawbale house in Cochise county, and it is still standing there, right on Treasure Road. Now am in WI, where was finally able to implement food forest without it being decimated by wildlife, cutter bees, and giant grasshoppers.
So very thankful for this information. May God bless you, sir. Man, that worries me that the Colorado is so dried up, you know? I wonder how much harm this is doing to the ecosystems down stream of the ignorant people who are trying to make a lush paradise in the middle of a desert.
Thanks so much for the contribution! It's true that the Colorado River is over-allocated and much of the water goes to wasteful practices. My hope is that through permaculture we can find a sane way to live and honor the water so there is enough for all people and creatures.
Not what I was expecting when I saw the word "forest" in the title. I used to live in the Pacific Northwest. Now that's a forest. Of course, this grove provide shade and life for many types of wildlife. Maybe you have already talked about it but it has created a huge adverse effect where the river used to flow in the Sea of Cortez. Many fish can't spawn anymore up river.
Reminded me of one of my deployments to Afghanistan. The Afghan soldiers said we were going to the "jungle". I have more trees in my back yard than they had in their "jungle".
I live here in the AZ Sonora (5yrs), and I've lived in WA and OR (for a decade). You're basically right: this is called *scrubland.* If saguaros move in _then_ it's a forest; the wildlife needs them, that's why this video is suspiciously dead and quiet. After the Saguaros get started it will take them upwards of half a century to get tall. Cholla, ocotillo and other cacti, like barrel cactus, are also important to make it a true forest that can actually support a diverse food-web. The point of showing this soil is that it's dark and fertile; not moist! Andrew should have compared it to the pale, barren gravel away from any trees. When a saguaro forest is healthy it can be LOUD, even in November, with cactus wrens and woodpeckers going nonstop. Many birds winter here, just a few dozen miles from of this footage, in the _actual_ Tonto Nat Forest - out my backdoor. It's just like in the PNW, where a deforested area can't balance out until the big conifers are reestablished, because the intermediate deciduous trees just can't support the potential diversity. What I see in this vid, and nearly anywhere near the canal, is the valley floor only just beginning to recover from its construction. We have lovely, if unconventional, forests in The Sonora - but this ain't it chief.
Youd have to live there awhile to think "forest" your expectations begin to suffer reality. Much like they consider a dry sand bed a river because every once in a while, water trickles down it for a week or two.
@@Vladviking No dude that's the point, the video plays it up as a forest, as someone who's "lived here awhile" it's just not. Guy in the video is maybe from OR? He has no idea. If you think Arizonans don't know what a river is and call "a dry sand bed a river" then you're really shining your ignorance.
I used to play around in those canals when it was being built. We'd also find some pond-type swales in the desert that I assumed were built by cattle ranchers. They had frogs that buried their eggs in the mud to survive during the dry season, and then they'd hatch after the rain returned.
You really chose a good year to film this, I've NEVER seen Arizona as green as it was last year. Trees that haven't had leaves in probably 5 years that I thought were dead were full and green
They looked dead because they were a native or desert species that go dormant when they don't have enough water to sustain the leaf growth. Once they have some water they will revive until the next dry spell and go dormant again.
@@acesoftrul3z you do know there numerous members of the poplar species. Since I'm not in the area to confirm what species have started to naturally inhabit the area. Since the trees were not planted by humans then it can be assumed that plants and trees are indigenous to the area and the seeds for said plants would most likely be spread by wind, water, or animals. From the aerial video it appears that there may be scrub oak and maybe a type of pinion or mesquite, also growing in the area. Non native species would have a hard time to adapt to the dry climate without human intervention.
@@patzeuner8385 buddy… what? They’re trees that someone planted like 20 years ago. They didn’t grow here naturally. I’m not talking about wild trees or the juniper/pines that occur natively in the area. These are non native trees that somebody planted then stopped caring for at some point
Perfect! Good to have a ready example of swales at work! I was just considering if it would be a good thing to encourage people to dig even moderate sized swales, berms, throughout the SW. With a good overall plan & a lot of backhoes, we ought to get a bunch built up every dry season. Eventually, there would be a greening of the desert and a reduction in the flooding damage.
@@edithmaggie Thanks! I've been thinking & doing some research on this. I've come up with a huge megaproject for capturing water using swailes as filtered drains.
The modern canals in Phoenix metro were dug almost exactly where the native Americans--the hohokam I believe had canals at some point. I lived in Arizona until 2002.
Its the reason why Phoenix is called Phoenix. According to legend when a Phoenix dies it is reborn from its own ashes. Phoenix is a settlement reborn from the ashes of the native american settlement that came before
In my opinion the river that once flowed into the ocean would have been majestic and grand. kind of sad really this does not happen any more. Imagine the destruction that this has caused on wildlife and habitats since.
Yep and the people south of all this get screwed. I find it very irresponsible. In Yuma the river is basically nothing. At least last time I was there.
@@martensdcm Beavers would not appreciate that statement. Dams aren't the problem, it's the overusage of water that's the real issue. We need more desalination plants so rivers (and dams) can do what they're meant to do.
The CAP isn't the main source of water for our area. SRP is the largest raw water supplier in the Phoenix metropolitan area, typically delivering about 750,000 acre-feet annually. This water comes from the salt and verde river watersheds.
As far as I know Tucson and that area of our state gets srp and over west where I'm at (little town called surprise, maybe not so small anymore) right at the base of the white tank mountains we use cap
@@satanbirmingham911 Tucson doesn't receive any water from the Salt River Project. Tucson's water comes from the CAP, groundwater and treated waste water.
I can't think of another video I've ever gotten youtube recommending to me about my home state, this was very cool and interesting :) I can say from personal experience how much the desert really does change with water, there's a spot i go to with friends that's basically a big empty bowl of desert within some mountains, except one time we went after the rainy season had been going on for a bit and the entire mini valley was green and filled with trees, as we tried to cross it we also realized a large stream had appeared from the mountains and cut the bowl in half
Growing up on a ranch in Arizona, we used to skateboard in the 22 ‘ in diameter pipes they used to make the underground parts of it. It was in 1977 on the reservation about where the 101 freeway is now. Great video
While in the Southwest, too, you might consider visiting with Brad Lancaster, the Guru of Rainwater Harvesting and sustainable living. He's in Tucson. There are a number of videos about him on RUclips. Kirsten of FairCompanies did a great interview with him a few years ago where he showed all of his innovations, like cutting away parts of the curbs to allow water to runoff the roads in his neighborhood to fill basins and create a roadside habitat with edible and medicinal plants. He's another Arizona treasure.
That’s because the citizens of Tucson recognize that they live in a desert area with seasonal rains. Their brethren in Phoenix believe they’re living in an Oasis (they’re not) and treat water like a birthright… just saying.
@@DanielinLaTuna Wilcox is 1 hr 14 min (82.8 mi) via I-10 E away from Tucson. Both Tucson and Phoenix are irrelevant to this discussion. Nonetheless, rainwater harvesting should be done everywhere - especially in arid areas.
@@adaster98 If China is planning on doing something, it's likely to have disastrous ecological impact lol Seems like every time they try something new it destroys the ecosystem due to poor planning and oversight.
@@adaster98 it's really not. Even a quick cursory glance into their water development projects and you'll see the disastrous impacts they've had on the region. Drying up rivers in important cities due to their water transfer, and ravaging local wildlife populations. Not new to China either, going all the way back to the Communist take over and there's a pattern of ecological disasters from poor planning.
@@LetsShitPost honestly i think they are just replanting trees in the desert areas to reclaim the land lost due to excessive logging during mao's rule. dude made so many bad decisions holy shit
have you even been to arizona? have you even thought about what it would take to try growing a forest in 120F+ summers in a state that has no natural water sources of their own and shit soil thats basically some sand mixed with lava rock boulders.
@@pawn3d167 its really because they're getting political pressure from all the other countries that are affected by the dust haze created by the gobi during monsoon seasonf
This is definitely one of those good news, bad news scenarios. Bad for the Colorado river basin, good example of what can come from these berms. Thanks for reporting on this!
It's amazing the water waste of the Colorado River, especially in regards to how much is sent towards the foolishness of its use in the city of Las Vegas.
I love how he just glossed over the fact that the US use up so much of the water, that the Mexico literally doesnt get any. I wonder how Mexico sees this amazing feat of engineering and agriculture.
Vegas only uses 2% of the water out of Lake Mead they actually have a really good water conservation program there so much so that people from Dubai come to study it. It's mostly wasted on agriculture in California and Arizona.
@@schizomode Mostly in California. Most of the Colorado River water goes to California to feed all the agricultural activities they have going on in SoCal / Coachella Valley. Almond trees are THIRSTY.
LA is where the water goes and they shouldn't get any until they permit some desalination plants. Not only that they waste a lot of water by the way it is managed
I have lived in Arizona for 7 years. In that time pretty much every undeveloped field within a half a mile radius of my house has been developed on in some way, most of them being single homes about 3 feet apart, and small. Every time I drive by one of the developments, I think about you and your eco village videos. I always say that if, and when, I’m able to build neighborhoods that I wanna work with you to make them sustainable. It’s one of my dreams to see Arizona transformed into a lush desert oasis. I absolutely love your videos and they give me so much hope for the future. Thank you for all the time and effort you put into these videos.
@@Ms.NoNo2 so you think pumping water into a desert is a sustainable solution for the water shortage problem? 😂😂😂😂😂 And then tell me to go educate myselfs great joke tho 😂😂😂
@@bloodyfluffybunny7411 considering I never said anything of what you’re saying…. Yes. The first step is turning the sand into soil. Go educate yourself.
What some people don't know is the Sonoran desert is one of the lushes deserts in the world and gets a good amount of rainfall for a desert. But yes, we need to not waste water as well.
@@gucciflipflop6669 ...for a desert. Look at pictures of the Atacama or Sahara and then look at pictures of the Sonora desert and see the vegetation difference. National Geographic called it the "lushest desert in the world". I didn't say it was Seattle.
Excellent video showing how we get our water here in the Valley of the Sun. My late father worked on the electronic systems that are used to monitor and guide the water through the canals. The CAP is the only reason Phoenix is the city it is today.
Well studies showed Arizona used to be Green before a massive Drought almost a thousand years ago. Infact many desert places in America and around the world used to be large forrests , the seeds that dried up in the ground so when the soil is continuously getting water the vegetation will grow back over time, so yeah more canals.
Don't worry my friend eventually the Earth will reset herself and a new form of mankind will crawl out of caves and s*** now when will it happen I can't say I'm not a predictor but you never know the Earth goes through changes it rolls up and flick the fleas off everybody talk about climate change the Earth was a violent piece of real estate before the dinosaurs it was going to changes
Did that drying of arizona happen at the same time the Colorado delta cut off sea flowing into the imperial valley and the same time the canyon Indians vanished
@@waynep343 from what I recall phoenix area dried up around 1000 AD when the glacier on top of flagstaff finished melting. I'm not sure when you are referring to. If it's the formation of salton sea your off a few years.
@@quigzinator i am referring to the drying up of the inland sea that went all the way up to the palm springs exit from the I-10... there are sea shells there , not the formation of the salton sea. i would think that a massive storm on the colorado caused a flood that brought down sediment that filled the delta and cut off the sea from continuing to flow into the imperial valley.. sea level is still at desert hot springs.
@@waynep343 You're on the right track, the sea you're referring to is the Salton Sea or more accurately Lake Cahuilla. It is a huge basin area, Lake Chuilla was primarily fed by Colorado river, which eventually shifted course and left Lake Cahuilla isolated and left to dry out. The idea that a catastrophic flood left Lake Chullia isolated is a good one which was even thought to be the case for long time, however no studies of sediment layers have not found evidence to support this theory. It is currently believed that the Colorado river shifted back and forth between discharging into the gulf of California and into Lake Cahuilla, depositing sediment layers into one side until they built up and then shifted the river back the other. Lake Cahuilla permanently dried out about 1500AD and was destined to stay that way until engineers accidentally diverted the Colorado river back into Lake Cahuilla basin creating what is now known as the Salton Sea in the early 1900's. The Anasazi Also known as the Canyon indians were forced out of their home's around 1200-1300 due to droughts and is unrelated. The Sea shell's your referring to are actually much much older those are the remains of the Western Interior Seaway, which existed millions of years ago.
Thanks Andrew you are one of the best. Aquifer recharge is a super important topic, Bill talked about it many times- even had a plan to generate power as the water fell down.
How awesome... our CEO saw this film and remarked that he visited Bill Mollisom at his home in the Northern Rivers NSW, Australia. As a kid he was designing the Permaculture International magazine and then to see your clip, so well explained and beautifully presented was awesome. Thanks for showing the importance of burls in the landscape, whether man-made or natural! RJS
There are many factors to consider with this info. Phoenix has a massive aquifer underneath from Verde, Salt, & Gila rivers converging. Recent estimates were 300 years worth of water under Phoenix at current usage. Overall AZ is much less dire than Nevada or California for water supply. Much of the Phoenix metro cities pull groundwater from the aquifer and water is sent back down through recharge/retention zones (many old neighborhoods still have flood irrigation is perfect example of this cycle). There is a lot of smart water management which makes usage much more efficient with a lot more population (More water was used in 1957 than in 2017 with 6x population). Of course our usage has dried up wetlands, Colorado river estuary, and cattle grazing is destroying desert vegetation, but most of these things are policy issues tied to agriculture not lawns, pools, and golf courses.
The figures I'm seeing suggest that the Phoenix aquifers have ~85m acre-feet (not all of it recoverable). That's less than 40 years of Phoenix usage (2.3m acre-feet annually). I would be curious to see sources suggesting 300 years.
First order of business, slap solar panels on a rack over the entire length of that canal. The amount of 1) free real estate and 2) evaporation reduction you could get is insane.
So much technology and engineering we rely on everyday that we would never even know about without videos like this.... Its such an amazing world we have created for ourselves and we take most of it for granted.... Its also amazing how nature creeps in and fill the gaps and improves on some of our designs.
I moved from Arizona a few months ago. Seeing this video brought back some really, really fresh memories. I may have even seen the plane you flew in buzz my house- because you did, I knew *exactly* where you were pointing that camera. Cudos, glad to see a place I used to live in finally getting some media coverage. Also. I used to cross this canal every other day. It was always so surreal seeing these forests... It's just a shame they burn so easily.
In 1981 when I arrived in Arizona it was a one horse town an I loved it! Pretty sure they were not expecting the growth that occurred since then. There were many areas that had large orange orchids like where Arrowhead Mall is located or along Baseline Road that also had acres of flowers. When you drove past, you could feel the cooler temperatures because of the irrigation. They continue to build while ignoring the fact that the ground water is not being replaced. Just a matter of time before the sinkholes starts appearing and neighborhoods starts to sink. I think I will go listen to I Love You Arizona and remember the good old days.
I remember when basically everything ended around Chandler Blvd and beyond it was dirt roads and farms. Until you hit that once little community of Ocotillo. Heck, i remember when the 60 ended in AJ and you had to get onto that Old West Highway to continue east. Just crazy how much Phoenix has expanded in pretty much every direction. Wonder how long until it connects to Tucson...
@@actionvestadventure Bell road was North Phoenix, Scottsdale Road north of Camelback had nothing, 75th Ave was about as far west as you cared to venture. From South mountain at night you could see all the communities separated by darkness....now one big sprawl. On the weekends you better have the turnoff to Saguaro Lake in your rear view mirror around 3PM so you could get a premium spot on the Rim. You were SOL if you got behind campers or trucks puling them on the road because they had carburetors and not fuel injection. Interstate 10 was not connected to I-40, the MAYO Clinic was in the middle of nowhere as well as Rietta Pass....oh those beautiful days! I have traveled a lot of places and so far the absolute most boring drive have been between Phoenix and Tucson...are we there yet‽‽
I lived in Phoenix area and I found that the desert has so much more life than I ever thought was possible. Birds, Snakes, Desert tortoise , Javelina , Bats, Deer , Cougar , Wild horses, Insects , just an amazing array of life . Much more that teh Sierras of Rockies
This video inspires me - I designed a project in Kenya in 2013 that was intended to have the same side-effect This is the first time I have seen footage of it actually working
Regenerative Agriculture is the long-term key to recovering these deserts - Allan Savory, Greg Judy and many others are involved in projects that work on any continent (except Antarctica). Lego projects like this are hiding the politicians from solutions.
I'd like to add that the desert is green because of excellent water management. I lived in the east valley in the Phoenix area. There are several canals that are hundreds of years old built by the indigenous people in Arizona. In the Phoenix area, there's is never a drought compared to southern California, which has an ongoing water crisis. There is no water waste because there is spot irrigation and early morning or night watering. When I say spot irrigation, I mean spot. If there were 5 bushes/plants in an area, there was 1 tiny drip hose at the base of each one of those 5 plants. But concentrating those drip lines by the larger plants resulted in the survival of smaller plants. My front yard had a huge tree, but the rest of the yard was cactus, other succulents, and hardscape. If a home had a grass lawn, it was very small. There are greenbelts and lovely gardens even in the middle of summer as well as golf courses and pools, true, but as I said, the water is very well managed.
Not unless you first manage the water. Trees are naturally plantedby animals and wind, will grow if there is adequate moisture and soil fertility....which is created via lumpy texture--pits and swales that retain both water and nutrients. Build those and the trees come on own.
@@keralee The reforestation of deserts is a complex. I think that it is necessary to fence the plots to be regreened because the herbivores create the deserts without the predators to regulate them... It is not necessary to plant trees but to let the seeds of trees germinate on the ground... Then, it is necessary to water during 2 or 3 years until the trees become autonomous in water...
The Nature Conservancy has had good success restoring stream flow in Arizona. I reckon each stream is different and needs its own plan. Streams can regrow rapidly if there's not too many cows on the banks.
@@nmarbletoe8210 Yes, I agree .... Often all you need to do is put up a fence and you can see a desert greening up. We don't measure enough the damage of grazing by herbivores...
Much of the Colorado river also serves southern California and Nevada, which also have large canals and/or tunnels. Even though its called the Colorado river, before the 1920s, it was originally named the Grand river. The tributaries to this river come from many states; Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and yes Arizona. One of the largest tributaries, the Green River, originates in Wyoming, and provides up to 40% of the water to the Colorado river system, and some years, such as 2011, even more.
@Craig There is a great book about the Powell expedition down the Colorado River that actually began on the Green River up in Wyoming. It is an intersting read. The book is called, 'Down the Great Unknown - John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon' by Edward Dolnick
Yes, lawns are not the best water use, but zero scape is it's own devil in disguise: Raising ambient temperatures and running off water rather than absorbing what does fall. We need some evaporation to build ambient humidity which builds clouds and creates precipitation. We need something available to attract the humidity back. The elders of various cultures say "the trees call the rain." Phoenix rivers and canals had once been lined by Cottonwood trees, which "notoriously" evaporate up to 40 gallons of water a day. So they started cutting them down, thank you Salt River Project who claimed all surface water rights and continue to exercise cutting trees lining irrigation ditches in the state to "keep" more surface water (that they can sell). We need just more considerate landscaping options and there are so many. Arizona is a grassland state. That is why it attracted the cattle ranchers. But herds can be managed consciously more than free ranged and they can also improve the ecosystem rather than stress and deplete it, so I have heard. There are ways. We just need to be taught. Thanks for the video!
Yes! As an Arizonan I am so tired of seeing not only mature trees cut from people's yards to "save water" or because the Mesquites are messy, but then the dummies lay down GRAVEL because they're so GD lazy they don't want to rake once in a while or heaven forbid they just let the trees mulch the ground into fertile soil as nature intended. I personally believe landscaping with gravel was popularized by the mining industry so that they could create profit from the refuse of their original exploits.
This is truly fascinating! I just moved back to Arizona after having gone to school here 40 years ago - the sprawl is mind-blowing. I never knew of the forests being created by the CAP....
I'd like to see this canal-adjacent forest receive some kind of semi-protected status. I imagine that it serves as a valuable conduit for a lot of desert wildlife, along with acting as a "linear oasis" for many plant species.
Oh hey! You are by my house. Welcome! I think the state should explore the idea of building a bunch of trincheras along all the washes, and encourage the landowners to do the same. That way less of the rain water would run off and more would soak in.
In the early 20th century the monsoon type rain on different sierras was discussed many times but very little was done. Over the Mexican border experiments were carried out to store the water in covered reservoirs but the world was distracted by other things.
I found your channel on a tour of your suburban homestead that Kirstin Dirksen did. I am very impressed I need to learn more about permaculture I am restoring a part of our farm from a wildfire, trying to heal the ecosystem. Glad I found your channel. Have a blessed day! Wendy🐞🇺🇸🦋🙏🏻
It always puzzled me, seeing these canals, why they don't plant trees or bushes on the banks - for shade, to prevent water evaporation. I mean, it's not that expensive...
Stanislav .... This idea of tree is not possible .. as their roots can make cracks in canal .. But yes we can have another idea of putting solar panels on canal .. Which can save water evaporation + also it can save canal from sand storm and dirt from desert .. + It will make renewable energy .. Yes it is little bit expensive but as Americans have so much money to waste upon like afganistan war , Vietnam war , building unnecessary walls , aiding pakistan so they can hide out people like Osama bin Laden .. From that money a small part can be invested here as solar panels on this canal .. In india we are doing the same .. 👍❤️
@@vandematram4 I was thinking more in a direction on planting fast growing hardy vines like passiflora/grape for initial cover and to provide the "infrastructure" for some kind of climbing nightshade to grow upon (after drying up the host plants). These are not deep rooting perennial plants, and as opposed to solar panels, they are many, many times cheaper at solving the problem of water evaporation
Hey Andrew, do I recall you rightly from Prescott..? It's been a decade and almost two since stopping by your Dameron st House with the fam?(Saw you in the Dolphin crossing over Jerome last I saw your face!?) 20 maybe 18 years ago, you e still got the same memorable smile man- Let me know!! Family here we were born the same year, it's Jah Love Josh, Native dreadlocked roadie, green eye guy, Joshua here. Be well. * Great contribution here, thank you!
Geoff Lawton has a terrific video produced many yrs ago in Arizona that also addresses a lush native forest built off a swale that has developed over decades next to a waterway. Haven't watched the video in many yrs; it may not be the CAP Canal. But is somewhere in Central or Southern AZ...
What's even more mind-blowing is when you realize that the Arizona and Sonoma deserts wouldn't exist if we hadn't over-tilled the land and removed all of the native grasses. Prior to the late 1800's and early 1900's, the Southwest was a lush and fertile land that was plentiful with local flora. Than we got the black snow of the 1920's and the dust bowl of the 1930's and now we're trying to figure out how to turn back a desert. Still, a great and interesting video.
Look online and see how China has turned huge swathes of the Gobi desert (driest desert on earth) into forests which in turn is bringing rainwater and farming into the area. The forests have grown from 5% of China's land area into 15% of China's land area, and the encroaching desert has been reversed and is now receding again. If they can do it I'm sure the USA could do it, if they were really bothered about climate change and reversing the desertification.
@@Fridaey13txhOktober Precipitation levels reduced because of the lack of native grasses to hold the moisture in to the soil. The less grass, less water in the ground to form rain, which causes less grass to grow which causes less rain and the cycle keeps repeating.
@@johnpatrick1647 There is a documentary - short - about it on RUclips I found by accident. Definitely very well worth watching though it also points out the possiblity of a future problem as they are currently only planting one species - pine trees. However China has decided that the planting of the trees is the immediate concern and when they start felling those already planted for wood then they can start to diversify into other species as required. I can understand their point of view and it seems to be working although they have had setbacks where huge swathes of trees have died and they've had to replace them. The only one species problem. But it is taking back from the desert and that is the main thing. Someone in Burkina Farso is doing something similar with Baobab trees and someone else in India has just restored a large portion of what had become unfertile, useless, land back into full fertility along with the return of the wildlife, water and traditional cultivation. Absolutely fascinating to watch and shows just how many people - and some governments - are actually doing things to try and reverse climate change and the slow descent into disaster.
I'm an American living in Thailand and I am in the process of turning 7 acres of land that only grew one crop of rice per year of rice into 7 acres of land that will produce 3 or more food crops per year. For so many years people have been told that the only thing they can grow on their land is rice. I'm here to prove them wrong. As one of my professors once said "If you can grow weeds on it you can grow food on it" It takes time to convert rice fields into a working farm. One of the problems is the land has been depleted of most of its nutrients so in the process of changing over to food production I must replenish the ground using compost and other organic materials. I give it 5 years untill I am finished. The production of food products other than rice will be a welcome for the locals as they either buy their vegetables off of a truck that comes around twice a day and only have what they want to sell or drive a long distancetoa market. These people will be able to walk a short distance and get anything they want at any time of the day.
Kinda hard to believe an indigenous people haven't figured out how to grow veggies but instead rely on a truck. Maybe you shouldn't help them....eliminate that defective gene pool.
@@willbass2869 They aren't "indigenous" people. They're thais. They aren't any more indigenous than you are in Eastern Europe or whatever place you come from. Also they grow rice better than anyone with ducks that naturally fertilize and remove pests
@@CountingStars333 they grow rice in abundance and quality because of '60s Green Revolution in agriculture....not because of ducks. *Stop romanticizing* Thailand would not be a major exporter of rice if not for American & international aid programs going back decades. We contributed a lot to improving their productivity and efficiency to such a high degree that people were released from the back breaking work of hand planting rice. Now they live in cities, own their homes and educate their children. Ducks didn't help make Thailand a successful and up-and-coming part of world economy.
Try small farm homesteading throughout the length of the canal. Grow fruit trees, olive trees, Moringa, and Duckweed. Small Farm Homesteaders should be able to recycle most of their sewage and trash. Small Farm Homesteaders should be able to salvage water and store water in a way that is efficient and dynamic. Small Farm Homesteaders should be able to maintain efficient and dynamic Organic Market Gardening. Small Farm Homesteading means only 1-5 acres. Grazing animals need to be strictly controlled and limited to keep them from overgrazing and using up too many valuable resources. Animals like rabbits in cages and farming fish in tanks would be more ideal than grazing animals. Fertilizer can be gotten from rabbits, farming fish in tanks , and vermiculture. Thank you for sharing helpful and informative videos!
Thanks for taking the time to make this vid, I had no idea about this. The irony is UNREAL! Really cool to see swales greening the desert on a large scale.
Thats quite incredible that so much vegetation can grow with just a simple change to the landscape, though its hard for me to see it as a forest. Though where i live the rainfall is high enough for a rainforest to form so im used to every other tree is nearly 100 foot tall. Its quite interesting that something as simple as green grass can be such a luxury.
I definitely agree that this little grove is hardly a forrest but I'm used to NY where we just barely don't qualify as having a rainforest in the taiga of the ADKs. Left alone any given piece of land will go from bare dirt to dense forrest in about 30years around here. (Passing through the stages of grass covered, bramble covered, slash covered, and finally tree covered.) We also have beavers who naturally build swales and "rainwater harvesting structures" for us and it seems like many places could use these helpful if destructive rodents. (Assuming they wouldn't have worse ecological impacts as an invasive species)
@@jasonreed7522 Beavers are extremely destructive in Argentina where they have been introduced, but in semi-deserts they are a must. my area has surprisingly few beavers since the rivers are quite powerful in many places. They tend to be around the coast or smaller tributaries in flatter areas since their dams get swept away otherwise.
@@Exquailibur i can see that, beavers are very adept at changing their environment so in an area where they don't belong and have no predators the environmental changes could definitely be much more negative than positive. As far as where they live, they don't bother with actual rivers (order of 10-20 feet or 3-6 meters wide), they need the little streams of only a couple feet wide and a few inches deep to start building a pond. They also prefer to dam up flat ground since it makes a wider pond for less dam building effort. And in an environment that is used to them like the forrests of Northern North America they are invaluable since they massively improve water storage and quality and provide habitat with their ponds. Beavers make sense to restore to forrests where they used to live but were hunted to extinction by humans, but as a fully introduced species we must exercise great caution to avoid making problems worse with unintended consequences. (Look up the cobra effect for a laundry list of times were kept intentionally introducing animals and it kept making things worse before finally just having to capture or kill everything that didn't belong ourselves.)
@@jasonreed7522 What you have said about beaver preferences explains a lot about their distribution in the pacific northwest. Though due to the rainfall in my region averaging around 70-100 inches per year (depending on proximity to the coast and mountains) the drought resistance isnt what they are important for. They create ponds and lakes that otherwise dont naturally form which is an important habitat for a number of plants and animals. without beavers, the biodiversity would be much lower and several would go extinct due to their small ranges and low adaptability. The Olympic mudminnow is a species that comes to mind when i think of something that relies so heavily on habitat created by beavers or the few valleys that can form oxbow lakes.
Great video, though I'd like to correct you on something that I've yet to see any1 do here yet. All the golf courses in the Valley of the Sun use reclaimed water, not the CAP water. All the cities there are aware of the need to conserve natural sources of water. The big problem is that all the growth that's happened has in effect cancelled out those water saving initiatives.
A canal in Sri Lanka named "Yoda Ela" has the gradient of about 10 centimeters per kilometer or 6 inches per mile and it was designed to achieve two main goals. One is carrying excess water to Tissa Wewa reservoir from Kala Wewa reservoir in Anuradhapura and the other is to increase the forest density along its way. And also it is a single banking irrigation cannel. The cannel was built around 460 AD.
Yes! Before Covid I was planning on visiting this canal in Sri Lanka this winter, but then plans changed. I still have it in my sites to see it and do a video about it.
I remember lake Pleasant from my young years, but that was before the Central Arizona Project by a number of years. The population was a small fraction of what it is today. Good memories. But I can’t imagine living there today, with so much depending on one canal feeding from one river.
@Thinkingoutloud Arizona has more groundwater sources than the amount of water flowing through the CAP canals. All of the municipalities recharge the aquafiers as well in their water purification systems. Also SRP's lake systems on the Salt River is another storage system and has their own canal systems as well. The troubling issue for the Colorado River system is the dropping water levels at Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams - without that electricity the West is going to really need to go solar BIG TIME.
Pleasant is also fed from the Agua Fria. Bartlett, Roosevelt and Canyon are fed from the Verde, Salt and/or Gila. 80% of water from the Colorado is used for...Agriculture. California takes almost twice as much water than Arizona from the Colorado.
For those complaining about Phoenix and Arizona, here's some context: Arizona receives 17% of the Colorado water. California gets 27%. Phoenix was growing long before the Central Arizona Project was completed. Irrigation from the Salt River was, by far, the largest driver of Phoenix's growth. The mis-use of water for swimming pools, golf courses (often green water), and other residential uses is really only a small portion of the Colorado River water use. It actually illustrates that there isn't really a water shortage, in that we still have the luxury of "wasting" water. However, agriculture uses the majority of the water, including allocations to multiple Native American communities in southern Arizona.
Would an ocean water canal that moves water inland to an artificial salt lake be a great way to bring moisture into a dry region? The evaporated water could fuel the local water cycle. Is this a bad idea?
There has been talk about this in other areas: creating inland seas that grow into Mangrove forests (which tolerate the salt water) in order to transpire water into the atmosphere and combine with clouds to increase rainfall. I've heard this suggested for the Qattara Depression in Egypt.
Problem is the salt water would seep into the surrounding ground poisoning it. Groundwater is just as important for life. But as Mr. Millison says, this might work in places where there is already little to no vegetation. For while the sea's coast might be incondusive to civilization, a rain system caused by evaporation could feed another downwind region.
Fascinating stuff! I used to live in the Phoenix Metro, but am now living in Tucson where there is much more permaculture and less open canals. I notice a similar effect here in Tucson with the washes and the old (now mostly underground) rivers like the Santa Cruz and Rillito River. It will be interesting to see desert greening projects with permaculture and sustainability in mind! The future is green! =)
With how little water is falling here in Colorado right now, and our largest reservoir (Blue Mesa) having already been drained to 10% this year for west coast electricity needs, wouldn't be surprised if 2022 is extremely painful for AZ. Honestly though, sustainability would have been not living in the desert, and forcing nature to bend to your will for existence in said place. Just saying.
It would be amazing to see solar panels installed above the entire waterway. Help prevent evaporation and utilize the existing structure to generate energy!
But they have literally forest the desert in 32 years. Didn't you watch the video? Vegetation where there was almost none? More birds and other wildlife?
@@TheMegadethMonk Yea, the video is showing all the new vegetation and do not showing all the vegetation that died because of this change. Is it so hard to get that taking this water from the old vegetation gonna kill it and change forests into deserts?!
Solar panels have toxic elements. when it rains they can fall into the water, and harm the local population. People will start getting cancers in a few decade.
Quick question - why is the canal not covered up (in some areas) to retain the evaporation? and/or getting contaminated by dirt, bird droppings, poo etc.? Thanks!
Every time we drive by Arizona on our vacation trip to Mexico my dad tells me if they started planting trees they would grow really well and change the environment and make it the best forest around, and I just stare at him like a crazy person it’s cool seeing that some what of his proof of concept.
Yes all they need is water, which is why it is a dessert. Plant all the trees you want no water no trees that is why what is there are short shrubbery ND small trees.
@@kellybarthel8060 it only took about 30 years for nature to create the mini forest with no human intervention. If left alone to do what nature does best the area will continue to grow and increase in size with ground cover. Of course once it starts looking nice some idiots will want to dig it all up and put in a housing project.
The 'forest' is clearly there through human intervention. That's what the video was about. Humans built canals and the canals formed a dam that retains the water for the vegetation to grow.
@@TheMegadethMonkmy statement of intervention refers to the fact that humans did not plant the vegetation rather nature took advantage of the changed topography. I doubt the plant growth was probably ever thought of, by the engineers that did the initial design of the canal. Also if the soil composition and topography was only slightly different along the canal there would be no significant plant growth.
@@patzeuner8385 There is a section in the video where the narrator shows a man and claims he knew this would happen and encouraged the engineers to create this situation. However, the narrator continually uses the word 'inadvertently' in an almost hypnotic way to imply that they didn't want or didn't care that water runoff from the nearby hills and mountains could be harnessed for plant life. He clearly has some deep bias against developers. As if for thirty years of construction and millions of man hours no one considered that a mound might pool water.
My grandpa took pics of the Colorado river near Mexico with Barges moving upstream . Now Phoenix has more waterfront homes than California , every new subdivision has a lake, over 350 golf courses sucking a million gallons per day . You can't turn a desert into a water world without destroying it. I left and moved to Texas where it rains , it Quit raining in AZ , when Lake Mead goes totally dry maybe someone will realize the big mistake they made .
Life is like that. Things change. People adapt. Water is super abundant on this planet. We yet lack the technology to desalinize sea water in an energy efficient and ecological way, but we’ll figure it out. And weather patterns may shift again filling reservoirs in the West. Sure is hot and humid in Texas! I prefer AZ.
And what if all that evaporated water turned into clouds and rained up stream and recycled back into those lakes? Or what if it happened to rain or snow more one year in Colorado or other parts? Would these lakes fill up. Or does water never return to the land and the only thing we can hope for is that all the fresh water drains into the ocean?
I used to do construction testing in AZ, and I routinely drove to these canals to continue testing the soil and concrete processes used to make these things. It's an incredible project to continually build these things, and I have spent many hours driving my truck or walking wheelbarrows of concrete into these things.
Wouldn't it make sense to cover the canal to reduce evaporation? Especially since this canal doesn't seem to be also used for boats/leisure like in other countries
I have been observing it for many years since Brad Lancaster pointed it out to me in Avra Valley near Tucson. I also spend a lot of time on google earth :-)
ótimo vídeo, aqui no Brasil nós também temos um grande canal em uma zona árida, o canal do Rio São Francisco, trouxe progresso, mas também gerou muita destruição.
@@em945 Many tracts of native forest were destroyed to accommodate the channel and its surroundings. Small traditional communities were divided. Some exotic fish species were introduced into the channel, directly affecting native species in the areas supplied. The volume of the São Francisco River has decreased considerably, leading to the advance of the sea under the river mouth, harming ecosystems and fishermen.
The antithesis to the wholesale removal of cottonwood trees along the canals in metro Phoenix because they were considered water thieves, later realized that they prevented more loss by evaporation than they drank, in addition to the normal benefits of trees, especially in the desert.
Now that the Colorado river is diverted, how about the ecosystem of end of the river near to the sea? Is it justifiable to sacrifice this for the sake of the consumer upstream? Human engineering feats mostly do harm to environment than good since profitability comes first before the ecology.
@@typical_watcher4599 An interesting factoid: all the water used by Arizonans from the Colorado River stays within the river basin and can be sent back to the river to go to the sea. This would assume that AZ would “use” less water, in a permanent sense, than it takes out of the river, which has become political rather than mathematical. California on the other hand has almost no usage of the river water within the basin and effectively permanently exits it with no opportunity to exit to the Sea of Cortez., yet they get the majority of water use rights. Things that make you go hmm!
Thanks
Thanks James
@@typical_watcher4599 "Human engineering feats mostly do harm to the environment than good [...good to the environment, that is] since profitability [...human benefit, you mean] comes before ecology [...another word for the environment]."
Yes. The baby's bathwater serves the interests of the baby [It was not drawn from the faucet for the benefit of itself, but for the cleanliness of the baby]. Should it be the other way around? ...I mean, the very word "environment" means the surroundings or conditions in which something (the focus of one's attention or the center of one's value) lives. But, as an environmentalist ideologue, you really DO value the bathwater above the baby -- everything else surrounding human beings is valued more highly than the humans themselves.
Now, what is the goal of "human engineering"? To shape nature for the benefit of human beings (and, in particular, THOSE humans who are paying for the engineering effort), ....yes?
It's a matter of values. ....And the environmentalist pseudo-religion values EVERYTHING BUT the human beings.
One way to reduce evaporation is to do what they do in India, to build solar panels over the canal. The water will also cool the panels making them more efficient.
We did it for trial and now removing it
You are definitely a cool NERD!
We just discovered Flint... C’mon!
M'urca, most ain't happy unless you a spewing smoke and wasting resources.
Yes they can but the thing is canal in India is smaller as compared to this canal installing solar panel will cost them hell of a money, man hour and resources.
Lawns, swimming pools and golf courses what a reason to destroy a major river.
Did you even watch the video? More desert has been rejuvenated thousands of times over than some muddy water being dumped into the ocean.
@@TreyNitrotoluene yeah what good are natural rivers. The Earth exists to serve man. Duh
@@TreyNitrotoluene you mean the nutrient delivery system that is the life blood of the marine eco system?
@@TreyNitrotoluene You are too ignorant to benefit humanity.
@@TreyNitrotoluene Accidents like these forests are a great and wonderful thing that humanity can learn from and hopefully duplicate with greater efficiency in the future. This is how I believe you and I understood Andrew's intention with making this video. I cannot believe anyone seriously thinks that lawns, swimming pools, and golf courses were the reasons for the river being redirected unless they genuinely hate humanity.
When I moved from Oregon to Scottsdale 38 years ago, I was shocked that even though there was no local water, people wasted water on grass lawns, fountains, etc.
The tap water stank and we all bought our drinking and cooking water. Then when it rained, there were flash floods, and no water harvesting. The irresponsibility was shocking.
Same time I got here. But the east valley had it's local water source. Water tested better than the Midwest. Mountain water.
They don't call it snotsdale for nothing
Leaving shared assets to a monopoly creates an unaccountable mess know as "The Tragedy of the Commons". Private ownership works. Public doesn't. For proof, examine the waste of "public works" in every country, for millennia. It's been documented in history. Private roads and courts worked better, then govt. took over and people can't imagine it any other way. MSM is govt. propaganda, so you won't hear it there.
Republicans are going out of their way to specifically cut and sensor ecological education too. Can't burst the bubble of American meritocracy now. Got to keep up those appearances
Those people with green lawns came from places like Oregon, California, NY, etc. All that artificial green has increased the summer time humidity and all the asphalt and concrete has increased the city temperatures, especially the min temp at night.
@thanhavictus The conditioned idiocy of blaming everything under the sun on Republicans is stunning. You'll believe any claim made about them without question.
Lawns in AZ ought to be banned unless 100% watered by greywater. I left desert for Wisconsin, where water falls naturally from skies on a fairly regular basis, and it was excellent decision! Water plus CO2 is life.
Green lawns in the Phoenix area are the minority and we have water here.
I'm in Kentucky and have replaced over half my lawn with gardens. I think lawns should be banned everywhere. They are ecological deserts.
@@everythingmatters6308 only over half your lawn? Tisk tisk
@@cesarcueto1995 Still digging for three hours today. It's a double lot. I'll get there!
@@everythingmatters6308 you're right. Good on you, mate. Sorry for being unfairly tough on you
Wow! I'm still stuck on the river was diverted and used to an extent that people downstream are effectively in a manmade water shortage. And then there's the issues of the communities that used to rely on the original course of the river. Not to mention the impact on the wildlife. It literally would have been easier to move to the original river and build there.
@@jimmoses6617 as a native arizonan my most fond memories growing up were the days when it hardcore rained. seems like they get less and less common
It’s a crime that communities south of the border are lacking water because we have diverted the rivers resource to build cities in barren wasteland. That is is the travesty of American ingenuity and innovation that he’s intentionally skipping over in his overview. This man made water shortage has devastated ecosystems and communities of people alike south of the border.
And the crazy part is alot of the water down stream that disappeared was vital to native reservations that the government then relocated them to land with water and sold the land for mining to the highest bidder.
But how else are they gonna have green lawns and golf courses?
Sadly, rich people that bought land cheap because it was desert use their influence to move the river and 'develop' those areas, everybody thought it was a win win for everybody excluding the mexicans. But sadly, that is still a desert area, eventually the desert is going to win.
The way he proudly says that people uses too much water, the river doesn't make it to the ocean is truly sad. The gulf is losing life because of the lack of minerals.
I’m sure Mexico feels the same.
Nature's a real bitch.
@@ClumsyToast nature?
There is no gulf where the river went.
And now there's greenery in Arizona
See how that works?
The most amazing thing being a gardener I learned is how plants provide shade and that cools that ground helps moisture retain it's beautiful. PLANT MORE TREES
But just not in a desert and water them in a water shortage....
I learnt this in school.
Amazing thing about forests is that if they get large enough they actually are large contributors to water formation. This reverses desert-fication.
Yes, water no longer flows into the ocean. A small city of Phoenix with a small water supply was allowed to grow into what it is by ruining the environment of the Southern Colorado River. Got to keep those swimming pools full. In the 1970's I knew an old Mexican man who told me that he & other fishermen fished at the confluence of the river & the river. It was a breeding ground for numerous species of fish. Not now, no water flows into the ocean & the breeding grounds are gone.
So what happened to the Mexican people who were living in Mexico at the end of the Colorado river.?
Did they get any compensation?
💔
@@jan22150 fuck no. What do you think?
@@jan22150 crossed the border to El Norte
@@willbass2869 most of the Mexican people living in that area are of Native American decent.....Just more fall out of the greed of the white man since they invaded North America.
That diversion, and how it devastates the ecology and environment down river from the diversion, are the same issues we face here in South East Australia, where the Murray-Darling rivers have been diverted to grow crops that would not survive in the natural environments of the region. There are places where the river used to be 15 meters deep and paddle steamers used to travel, where you can now walk from bank to bank without getting wet feet. It's sad to see that this has been done to many rivers around the world, where too much water is taken out of them to allow their natural cycles to remain intact and supporting the flora and fauna native to places. We need smarter solutions, taken out of the control of companies and politicians.
Just because its natural, doesn't mean it was good to begin with. Remember, nature I not intentional, it' all happenstance.
Just look what happened to the Aral Sea in Central Asia, for the same reasons. It used to be the fourth largest lake in the world, but then the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers were diverted for irrigation projects. The former lakebed is a dust bowl now, only a relatively small pool of water in the north survives.
@@fruzsimih7214 i dont think the pacific ocean will dry up
Don't forget that during early settlement in the 19th and early 20th century in the Murray-Darling Basin there used to be lots of Eucaluptus, Acacia, Casuarina and other types of forests that kept a natural flow of those 15-30 meter deep water rivers and inflow of rain etc. But after cutting most of it down to make way/clear land for agriculture, cattle, wool etc. the natural cycle/flow of water got interrupted. Meaning there were no trees to keep the soil together, eat up C02 (carbon dioxide) and create this evaporation to stimulate rainfall etc.
@@dvchel That contributed quite a great deal, but more on the side of whether the local ground water ran back to the river, whereas once they were cut down, irrigation channels took water out of the rivers in to the farms.That problem was a slow creep of the water into the large swaths of land used for wool and beef production across the plains near the Vic, NSW and SA borders.
The real water drain started when Rice and the like began to be farmed further up-river, pulling more water out of the Darling, leading to the previously farmed areas of the Murry-Darling Basin not having the water coming in to it anymore.
Even the healthiest of restored forests won't bring the rivers back if the water is never getting to it, which is the state of things with the current mis-management.
You should talk about the consequences of diverting the colorado river away from México, and the ecological consequences it had on Baja California Wetlands ecosystem, even if México and the U.S. has an ecological water treaty, the wetlands don't get water all the year as they used to and they struggle in 2/3 of the year.
That's tragic, but wetlands are so important
No body but dirty hippies care
They won't ever discuss that. It's another example of the thievery taking place every day.
And the we wonder why people leave their homes and migrate to other countries
But the Mexican population also uses and diverts that water. It's disingenuous to assume that they're not receiving any water due to the US.
Meanwhile, the Colorado River Delta has been reduced to around 5 percent of its historic biological footprint. These forests have developed concurrent with the demise of the Salton Trough.
Exactly what I was thinking. There's no such thing as a free lunch. That water is coming from somewhere, the water making these "forests" was originally going somewhere else. So you haven't really gained a forest, you just moved it. The guy also refers to water "lost" to evaporation like it no longer exists... where do you think it's going?
Overall an interesting video but I'm skeptical of the point it's trying to make.
@@decidiousrex yeah I have to agree with you. He’s basically talking out of both sides of his mouth saying that it’s a good thing but yet it’s a bad thing and yada yada yada and it makes no sense because he’s contradicting himself is how I’m understanding this. So what is the point he’s trying to get at???……
Such considerations, however, presuppose rudimentary stages of intelligence - unlikely in environmental issues in the United States.
@@donfredo8013 So what do you purpose? If everything done to the environment for the sake of water was turned back to how it was 100+ years ago, there wouldn’t be water for Los Angeles & for Phoenix & Tucson…. Sure many more cities. Perhaps you’re in line with Bill Gates in thinning out the world population?
@@donfredo8013 Honey, don’t. Just speak. Don’t do all that, nobody cares.
I have no idea why RUclips recommended this video to me, but I'm glad it did. Very fascinating video on a subject I never heard before. Congratulations to the creator for presenting this subject in a very visual and intuitive way, even someone like me with absolutely zero prior knowledge on this is able to learn something new.
Thus us just the beginning. There's so much more.
Looking at your footage it seems that power lines run parallel to the canal (at least for some of the length). It would be awesome to build pv solar panels above the canal providing shade over the water to help with cooling and reduce evaporation.
Any condensation (if any) could be fed back into the canal or even collected in tanks to supply the surrounding plant growth.
Definitely! Great idea.
Trees can provide shade along the canal and keeps the water intact in their roots and soil not the solar panels.
@@amillison Solar panels over canals is a major undertaking in India. They both reduce evaporation and provide power without using agricultural land.
BTW, do you know about the Paani Project? They seem to have made major changes in water retention and increasing agricultural yield. As the climate continues to warm, when it does rain it's likely to rain in larger quantities. It might be time to start working on water runoff in the US in a serious way.
@@bobwallace9753 ruclips.net/video/-8nqnOcoLqE/видео.html
@@parullgossain
Thanks. Had already watched (and uprated) that video. Didn't realize they were done by the same person.
I wonder how the people of Mexico feel about the Colorado river not even making it through to the ocean!
America, being an Empire, sees screwing over other nations for their own benefit as a positive outcome.
A Mexican river flows into the US full of bodies and 20 types of dangerous bacteria.
I really don't care.
Mexico diverts a ton of water from the river too. They are part of the reason it doesn’t flow to the ocean
Mexicali is the last stop for the river. What makes it south of the border, they take in its entirety at that point.
@mrepix8287 they divert nothing like the SW USA states and you know it.
Looks like a great 'unintended consequence'. My only concern would be for the land on the opposite side of the canal, as it is now robbed of the meager amounts of water it was receiving. The effects of that might be interesting to know as well.
I think it is better to have enough water on one side to support life and the other side be baron, rather than have neither side have enough water.
The water sink above the canal will provide more groundwater for the land below the canal.
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The soil here gets a crust on it from baking in the sun and most of the water runs off anyway, at least initially. You're right about less surface water but to second Kitti, there will be more local groundwater. Given our heat, groundwater is better. What you're seeing on the dry side isn't uncommon as far as density of plants. Pretty healthy population, actually. On the fauna side, it can be like night and day. Everything from birds to lizards to rabbits to horses will gravitate to that big greenery, dozens of species, especially if there's standing water under the trees. It can be like being at the zoo.
Actually, there’s a spillway over the canal, so the water pools on both sides. It’s shown at 6:06.
Can't help but wonder what kind of problems have happened to the Colorado river because of this. Much of our local river is diverted. It has decimated local fish populations. There have been times when during fish spawning runs there has been no channel with water. The flows are sub-surface.
It is drying up and is at record lows. It is literally just a trickle now.
At least Phoenix has super important golf courses.
Where this river ends used to have flowers bloom every year before we as a species decided to divert it for our own needs in a desert. The green lawns should be outlawed in the US. They take so much water and chemicals to upkeep. If I ever get to own a home, I am letting it turn into flowers and sedges to help the critters more then I need a lawn.
@@notright7 Plenty of water in the US. You just have to live where it is. lol. You choose to live in a desert that's the price you pay.
@@notright7 Surely you will.
1:50 After 20 years or drought, the Colorado River can no longer provide the water it used to. Those lawns are rapidly disappearing (I read last week that only 10% of homes in Phoenix sill have lawns having converted to native vegetation) amid other water conservation measures, and this year many farms are drastically reducing growing acreage as their water allotments are slashed. This is repeated throughout the southwest. Nevertheless, it is still very interesting so learn of the "accidental forest".
Are lawns practical in a desert environment where water is scarce? You can get away with it if you only have a small population, but AZ's population has grown to the point where it may no longer be sustainable.
@@jonathantan2469 No, they are not and I am glad to see the lawns go. Much more will be needed to allocate available water and to lower demand for this increasingly scarce resource.
It should be illegal to have a lawn..
Lawns here in the valley are silly and a pointless waste of water. If people want to grow things here at least choose native plants or useful ones, like food producing. I think there should be a ban on lawns and private pools. Private pools are a waste or space and water. Most people don’t use their private pools enough to justify their existence. We would be better served by adding more community pools.
@@luckyfeatherfarm4685 Yea I can understand why they want a swimmingpool. But it certainly don't need to be filled with freshwater, certainly not in a desert where water is scarce.
Weird that no one has started an establishment which transports and sell seawater instead. For one person the cost would be huge, but together it could be viable and a much better alternative.
The Canadian city of Medicine Hat was founded and grew as a result of the trans-continental railway crossing the South Saskatchewan River in the 1860's. Pictures taken at the time reveal absolutely no vegetation in the area beyond grass and a few small shrubs immediately adjacent to the river. Now, giant trees line the banks, likely as a result of the irrigated lawns on the top of the banks, and subsequent runoff spilling down.
When covered wagons traveled the Oregon Trail, the Platte River had no trees along it at all. The volume of the river changed so much in the course of the year that trees could not root themselves--- washed out in high water and left high and dry in low water. Now that dams and dikes have stabilized the river, it is lined with cottonwoods the whole length.
*CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS*
1) MATH IS CORRECT: What I said was: "It was started in 1973, the year I was born, and it was completed in 1993. So this is about 30 years of this canal being here". This canal has been here since 1993. It is now 2022. That's about 30 years that this canal has been here.
2) The yearly evaporation from the canal is 5 _billion_ gallons, not 5 _million_ gallons.
3) The CAP doesn't _supply_ 80% of Arizona's population. It _reaches_ 80% of Arizona's population. These are two different things.
Sorry about that!!!
it only takes 5 minutes of surfing youtube to realize the majority of commenters are over-opinionated imbeciles. no worries, man, don't let it get to you.
what you said, is what you wrote and hence as expected people reacted to your obvious error.
@@grantandrew619 Why the hell would anybody be negative in their reaction after watching this piece of knowledge?! What’s obvious is your dumbness.
@Creator Thank you for this amazing video. I’m from a country with desert/water issues, i think my government can use this kind of solution to change the game completely.
#1 is for idiots who dont know how to think
you should change the description to reflect these numbers. you also need to correct the lake pleasant evaporation number you threw out. you also don't mention that youre ignoring seepage "losses".
probably should make another video just digging into the numbers and get them right, if you can't change this video.
i would say 4-5% system loss from CAP is pretty good. (you act like it's wasteful.) and most of that lost from lake pleasant. but we don't have any context here, if there are even better aquaduct systems out there. and we also don't see the losses from lake powell and the rest of the colorado's parasites.
mollison's global gardener desert video was very moving to me when i first saw it. but having moved to the mojave and having travelled and lived in the sonoran for months around tucson and arizona generally, i found that it contains three major lies.
1) these embankment swales are useful and interesting, but they rob as much water downstream as they impound upstream. the swales he visited west of tucson are neat but definitely not an obvious model to copy. 2) dixon's imprinting method may work in marana, but it hasn't worked anywhere else i've been. 3) mollison claimed the saguaros in his video were the last of their kind -- no more canopy under which new babies could begin. he was flat wrong on that, and it's a big mistake for him to make, as a botanist.
knowyourwaternews.com/3-facts-of-cap-efficiency-seepage-and-evaporation/
Only in the desert would anyone describe that as a "forest". Look, this is really fascinating, but I still find it asinine that Phoenix exists where it does, and takes all the water it does. Phoenicians pay less for their water than do denizens of St. Louis, which further contributes to the looming water crisis. Yes, Man can build some incredible infrastructure, but just because we can doesn't mean we should.
It could always have its day, like Detroit did, or The Salton Sea.
Indeed but you can't tell America most of their infrastructure inefficient asinine and poorly planned.
They'll work with what they have... If you wanted sensibility you'd have to scrap whole states. They'll just keep expanding (as looming bankruptcy demands) till the whole thing collapses onto itself.
the water would end up in the ocean anyway
@@DevinDTV And the nutrients that it used to bring with it.
ABSOLUTELY VILE.
The next step would be to cover the canal with solar panels, at least where residents are near. They prevent evaporation of the water and work more efficiently bc of the water's cooling effect.
@@donofon101 India reported they had great success with that. I'm not an US resident, so someone else will have to step in.
The idea itself is of zero value to politcians so it will go nowhere. Only green in their palms will move an idea into reality
Recycled plastic fiber optics like a car wash .ECT ECT .thx yep
Exactly my thought, even a simple cheap cover would save massive water
Works even better to rust all electronics too 🤣
I’ve lived in the Phoenix metro area for 63 years. I’ve always been frustrated by “leadership’s” 1) refusal to acknowledge and respect our desert environment and 2) their willingness to indulge developers at the future detriment of our state.
No wonder, the money rule the world.
@Latricia Cagle AMEN to that! Maybe one day APS will stop blocking the need solar development. Every roof needs to be solar. It is amazing how much they will build roads everywhere, but neccessary 'green' projects are not "cost effective" (eyeroll)
Could they build more swales up slope so that one day natural springs might pour into the canal?
Yes! They could put swales at interval throughout the entire landscape. The optimum interval would depend on slope and the ground type of the catchment area.
@@amillison I would argue also the rainfall plays a role. In the end swales are places where precipitation accumulates, so in a very dry climate you need a large catchment area (i.e. large distance between swales) for putting together a significant amount of water.
@@nicolagiuliani3212 Yes. So you'd have to determine the optimum interval based on rainfall, slope, and ground coverage (runoff coefficient). Another important piece is the timing and intensity of rainfall. The monsoons are a big runoff event because the rain is so intense.
Yes. It would be a good idea across most of AZ, would greatly green desert, and might even be implemented, if bureaucrats were not 1) morons and 2) controlled by corps.
Nope
Came across this by accident? My dad was a draftsman working on this project in the 60's-70's. He would take me out to a couple areas and tell me what the plans were. He also pointed out how close the canal was to some fault lines. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Can't fault him for that.... it is good to spend time with dads.
Good video, Andrew. While you're in Arizona you might consider visiting the disaster called Wilcox, Arizona, where to feed an insatiable amount of cattle, they're growing a vast amount of acres of alfalfa right there in Wilcox. And to water that alfalfa, they're depleting the groundwater dry. Citizens in that area now have their well pipes dangling in the air, with the groundwater level dropping so much, that they are forced to move out of the area, or haul in their water. It's a crime what the cattle industry is doing to them. Thought you should know.
This is beyond horrible.
Man, that sucks so much!
Alfalfa is actually a good crop to grow in arid climates, but one should not feed an overwhelming amount of cattle with it. Get a small herd of goats or sheep and you're good.
I've been to Wilcox. I actually took a permaculture course near Sunizona in the 90's. Although looking a the satellite now, it looks like the center pivot irrigation circles have blown up big time since I was there. That's a shame!
@@amillisonHowdy. I used to live outside Sunsites...built the first ultra-tiny strawbale house in Cochise county, and it is still standing there, right on Treasure Road. Now am in WI, where was finally able to implement food forest without it being decimated by wildlife, cutter bees, and giant grasshoppers.
@@keralee 👍very cool.
So very thankful for this information. May God bless you, sir.
Man, that worries me that the Colorado is so dried up, you know? I wonder how much harm this is doing to the ecosystems down stream of the ignorant people who are trying to make a lush paradise in the middle of a desert.
Thanks so much for the contribution! It's true that the Colorado River is over-allocated and much of the water goes to wasteful practices. My hope is that through permaculture we can find a sane way to live and honor the water so there is enough for all people and creatures.
Not what I was expecting when I saw the word "forest" in the title. I used to live in the Pacific Northwest. Now that's a forest. Of course, this grove provide shade and life for many types of wildlife. Maybe you have already talked about it but it has created a huge adverse effect where the river used to flow in the Sea of Cortez. Many fish can't spawn anymore up river.
Reminded me of one of my deployments to Afghanistan. The Afghan soldiers said we were going to the "jungle". I have more trees in my back yard than they had in their "jungle".
“This VAST forest” - cuts to a mesquite tree and some bushes. I suppose in the desert maybe that is a forest idk
I live here in the AZ Sonora (5yrs), and I've lived in WA and OR (for a decade). You're basically right: this is called *scrubland.* If saguaros move in _then_ it's a forest; the wildlife needs them, that's why this video is suspiciously dead and quiet. After the Saguaros get started it will take them upwards of half a century to get tall. Cholla, ocotillo and other cacti, like barrel cactus, are also important to make it a true forest that can actually support a diverse food-web. The point of showing this soil is that it's dark and fertile; not moist! Andrew should have compared it to the pale, barren gravel away from any trees.
When a saguaro forest is healthy it can be LOUD, even in November, with cactus wrens and woodpeckers going nonstop. Many birds winter here, just a few dozen miles from of this footage, in the _actual_ Tonto Nat Forest - out my backdoor. It's just like in the PNW, where a deforested area can't balance out until the big conifers are reestablished, because the intermediate deciduous trees just can't support the potential diversity. What I see in this vid, and nearly anywhere near the canal, is the valley floor only just beginning to recover from its construction. We have lovely, if unconventional, forests in The Sonora - but this ain't it chief.
Youd have to live there awhile to think "forest" your expectations begin to suffer reality. Much like they consider a dry sand bed a river because every once in a while, water trickles down it for a week or two.
@@Vladviking No dude that's the point, the video plays it up as a forest, as someone who's "lived here awhile" it's just not. Guy in the video is maybe from OR? He has no idea. If you think Arizonans don't know what a river is and call "a dry sand bed a river" then you're really shining your ignorance.
I used to play around in those canals when it was being built. We'd also find some pond-type swales in the desert that I assumed were built by cattle ranchers. They had frogs that buried their eggs in the mud to survive during the dry season, and then they'd hatch after the rain returned.
You really chose a good year to film this, I've NEVER seen Arizona as green as it was last year. Trees that haven't had leaves in probably 5 years that I thought were dead were full and green
They looked dead because they were a native or desert species that go dormant when they don't have enough water to sustain the leaf growth. Once they have some water they will revive until the next dry spell and go dormant again.
@@patzeuner8385 they’re poplar trees, not native desert species
@@acesoftrul3z you do know there numerous members of the poplar species. Since I'm not in the area to confirm what species have started to naturally inhabit the area. Since the trees were not planted by humans then it can be assumed that plants and trees are indigenous to the area and the seeds for said plants would most likely be spread by wind, water, or animals. From the aerial video it appears that there may be scrub oak and maybe a type of pinion or mesquite, also growing in the area. Non native species would have a hard time to adapt to the dry climate without human intervention.
@@patzeuner8385 buddy… what? They’re trees that someone planted like 20 years ago. They didn’t grow here naturally. I’m not talking about wild trees or the juniper/pines that occur natively in the area. These are non native trees that somebody planted then stopped caring for at some point
@@acesoftrul3z I don't believe the report said that humans had planted non native trees but rather nature doing her thing.
Perfect! Good to have a ready example of swales at work!
I was just considering if it would be a good thing to encourage people to dig even moderate sized swales, berms, throughout the SW. With a good overall plan & a lot of backhoes, we ought to get a bunch built up every dry season. Eventually, there would be a greening of the desert and a reduction in the flooding damage.
I love this guy.
@@edithmaggie Thanks!
I've been thinking & doing some research on this. I've come up with a huge megaproject for capturing water using swailes as filtered drains.
The modern canals in Phoenix metro were dug almost exactly where the native Americans--the hohokam I believe had canals at some point. I lived in Arizona until 2002.
That is correct. Many of the canals used today were built by Hohokam's and you can still see them from google maps.
You would so hate it now.🙁
Its the reason why Phoenix is called Phoenix. According to legend when a Phoenix dies it is reborn from its own ashes. Phoenix is a settlement reborn from the ashes of the native american settlement that came before
In my opinion the river that once flowed into the ocean would have been majestic and grand. kind of sad really this does not happen any more. Imagine the destruction that this has caused on wildlife and habitats since.
I agree. Rivers should be rivers, not damned. Humans should not be diverting rivers to grow crops or live in the desert. It is unsustainable.
Yep and the people south of all this get screwed. I find it very irresponsible. In Yuma the river is basically nothing. At least last time I was there.
@@martensdcm Beavers would not appreciate that statement.
Dams aren't the problem, it's the overusage of water that's the real issue. We need more desalination plants so rivers (and dams) can do what they're meant to do.
@@ungoyone I see your point. It makes sense.
@@ungoyone However, the dams beavers make are nothing compared to manmade dams, that divert huge quantities of water.
The CAP isn't the main source of water for our area. SRP is the largest raw water supplier in the Phoenix metropolitan area, typically delivering about 750,000 acre-feet annually. This water comes from the salt and verde river watersheds.
That was what I remember. The cpa came later and is feeding the need for expansion.
@@smiley3012 It's largely feeding agriculture.
As far as I know Tucson and that area of our state gets srp and over west where I'm at (little town called surprise, maybe not so small anymore) right at the base of the white tank mountains we use cap
@@satanbirmingham911 Tucson doesn't receive any water from the Salt River Project. Tucson's water comes from the CAP, groundwater and treated waste water.
I can't think of another video I've ever gotten youtube recommending to me about my home state, this was very cool and interesting :) I can say from personal experience how much the desert really does change with water, there's a spot i go to with friends that's basically a big empty bowl of desert within some mountains, except one time we went after the rainy season had been going on for a bit and the entire mini valley was green and filled with trees, as we tried to cross it we also realized a large stream had appeared from the mountains and cut the bowl in half
Growing up on a ranch in Arizona, we used to skateboard in the 22 ‘ in diameter pipes they used to make the underground parts of it. It was in 1977 on the reservation about where the 101 freeway is now. Great video
While in the Southwest, too, you might consider visiting with Brad Lancaster, the Guru of Rainwater Harvesting and sustainable living. He's in Tucson. There are a number of videos about him on RUclips. Kirsten of FairCompanies did a great interview with him a few years ago where he showed all of his innovations, like cutting away parts of the curbs to allow water to runoff the roads in his neighborhood to fill basins and create a roadside habitat with edible and medicinal plants. He's another Arizona treasure.
Yes absolutely
These two guys teach classes together for Oregon State. They know each other well I'm sure.
Thanks for the tip! He's made some excellent video's. Greetings from the Netherlands
That’s because the citizens of Tucson recognize that they live in a desert area with seasonal rains. Their brethren in Phoenix believe they’re living in an Oasis (they’re not) and treat water like a birthright… just saying.
@@DanielinLaTuna Wilcox is 1 hr 14 min (82.8 mi) via I-10 E away from Tucson. Both Tucson and Phoenix are irrelevant to this discussion. Nonetheless, rainwater harvesting should be done everywhere - especially in arid areas.
They need to make more forests. This will increase the water presence overall.
@@adaster98 If China is planning on doing something, it's likely to have disastrous ecological impact lol Seems like every time they try something new it destroys the ecosystem due to poor planning and oversight.
@@adaster98 it's really not. Even a quick cursory glance into their water development projects and you'll see the disastrous impacts they've had on the region. Drying up rivers in important cities due to their water transfer, and ravaging local wildlife populations.
Not new to China either, going all the way back to the Communist take over and there's a pattern of ecological disasters from poor planning.
@@LetsShitPost honestly i think they are just replanting trees in the desert areas to reclaim the land lost due to excessive logging during mao's rule. dude made so many bad decisions holy shit
have you even been to arizona? have you even thought about what it would take to try growing a forest in 120F+ summers in a state that has no natural water sources of their own and shit soil thats basically some sand mixed with lava rock boulders.
@@pawn3d167 its really because they're getting political pressure from all the other countries that are affected by the dust haze created by the gobi during monsoon seasonf
This is definitely one of those good news, bad news scenarios. Bad for the Colorado river basin, good example of what can come from these berms. Thanks for reporting on this!
He didn't mention that the areas downhill from the canal are, conversely, starved of the water that couldn't get through the berms.
It's amazing the water waste of the Colorado River, especially in regards to how much is sent towards the foolishness of its use in the city of Las Vegas.
I love how he just glossed over the fact that the US use up so much of the water, that the Mexico literally doesnt get any. I wonder how Mexico sees this amazing feat of engineering and agriculture.
Vegas only uses 2% of the water out of Lake Mead they actually have a really good water conservation program there so much so that people from Dubai come to study it. It's mostly wasted on agriculture in California and Arizona.
@@schizomode Mostly in California. Most of the Colorado River water goes to California to feed all the agricultural activities they have going on in SoCal / Coachella Valley. Almond trees are THIRSTY.
LA is where the water goes and they shouldn't get any until they permit some desalination plants. Not only that they waste a lot of water by the way it is managed
Las Vegas uses less than Arizona and California . FYI.
I have lived in Arizona for 7 years. In that time pretty much every undeveloped field within a half a mile radius of my house has been developed on in some way, most of them being single homes about 3 feet apart, and small. Every time I drive by one of the developments, I think about you and your eco village videos. I always say that if, and when, I’m able to build neighborhoods that I wanna work with you to make them sustainable. It’s one of my dreams to see Arizona transformed into a lush desert oasis. I absolutely love your videos and they give me so much hope for the future. Thank you for all the time and effort you put into these videos.
Get in touch when you're ready :-)
why would you dream of something so unsustainable and destructive?
@@bloodyfluffybunny7411 please go educate yourself.
@@Ms.NoNo2 so you think pumping water into a desert is a sustainable solution for the water shortage problem? 😂😂😂😂😂 And then tell me to go educate myselfs great joke tho 😂😂😂
@@bloodyfluffybunny7411 considering I never said anything of what you’re saying…. Yes. The first step is turning the sand into soil. Go educate yourself.
What some people don't know is the Sonoran desert is one of the lushes deserts in the world and gets a good amount of rainfall for a desert. But yes, we need to not waste water as well.
A good amount? It rains here 15 days out if the year
He said good amount for a desert, which is a statement based on perception. 2021 was the third wettest year in AZ due to heavy monsoon season.
@@gucciflipflop6669 ...for a desert. Look at pictures of the Atacama or Sahara and then look at pictures of the Sonora desert and see the vegetation difference. National Geographic called it the "lushest desert in the world". I didn't say it was Seattle.
Excellent video showing how we get our water here in the Valley of the Sun. My late father worked on the electronic systems that are used to monitor and guide the water through the canals. The CAP is the only reason Phoenix is the city it is today.
Well studies showed Arizona used to be Green before a massive Drought almost a thousand years ago. Infact many desert places in America and around the world used to be large forrests , the seeds that dried up in the ground so when the soil is continuously getting water the vegetation will grow back over time, so yeah more canals.
Don't worry my friend eventually the Earth will reset herself and a new form of mankind will crawl out of caves and s*** now when will it happen I can't say I'm not a predictor but you never know the Earth goes through changes it rolls up and flick the fleas off everybody talk about climate change the Earth was a violent piece of real estate before the dinosaurs it was going to changes
Did that drying of arizona happen at the same time the Colorado delta cut off sea flowing into the imperial valley and the same time the canyon Indians vanished
@@waynep343 from what I recall phoenix area dried up around 1000 AD when the glacier on top of flagstaff finished melting. I'm not sure when you are referring to. If it's the formation of salton sea your off a few years.
@@quigzinator i am referring to the drying up of the inland sea that went all the way up to the palm springs exit from the I-10... there are sea shells there , not the formation of the salton sea. i would think that a massive storm on the colorado caused a flood that brought down sediment that filled the delta and cut off the sea from continuing to flow into the imperial valley.. sea level is still at desert hot springs.
@@waynep343 You're on the right track, the sea you're referring to is the Salton Sea or more accurately Lake Cahuilla.
It is a huge basin area, Lake Chuilla was primarily fed by Colorado river, which eventually shifted course and left Lake Cahuilla isolated and left to dry out.
The idea that a catastrophic flood left Lake Chullia isolated is a good one which was even thought to be the case for long time, however no studies of sediment layers have not found evidence to support this theory. It is currently believed that the Colorado river shifted back and forth between discharging into the gulf of California and into Lake Cahuilla, depositing sediment layers into one side until they built up and then shifted the river back the other.
Lake Cahuilla permanently dried out about 1500AD and was destined to stay that way until engineers accidentally diverted the Colorado river back into Lake Cahuilla basin creating what is now known as the Salton Sea in the early 1900's.
The Anasazi Also known as the Canyon indians were forced out of their home's around 1200-1300 due to droughts and is unrelated.
The Sea shell's your referring to are actually much much older those are the remains of the Western Interior Seaway, which existed millions of years ago.
Rode thousands of miles on ATVs in Arizona. Seen many spots like this and never knew what I was looking at. Thanks for the explanation!
You couldn't find a square mile of open land here in Delaware to ride lol, very jealous
@@Shaymuhs it's basically impossible not to find big open spaces in the western states, even California lol
ur welcome 😇 thanks
Thanks Andrew you are one of the best. Aquifer recharge is a super important topic, Bill talked about it many times- even had a plan to generate power as the water fell down.
How awesome... our CEO saw this film and remarked that he visited Bill Mollisom at his home in the Northern Rivers NSW, Australia. As a kid he was designing the Permaculture International magazine and then to see your clip, so well explained and beautifully presented was awesome. Thanks for showing the importance of burls in the landscape, whether man-made or natural! RJS
Small world! Thank you so much for the kind feedback, it's always great to hear how this knowledge is circulating :-)
Something like the chinampas ( 'floating' gardens) the Aztec had would mitigate a good deal of the evaporation.
There are many factors to consider with this info. Phoenix has a massive aquifer underneath from Verde, Salt, & Gila rivers converging. Recent estimates were 300 years worth of water under Phoenix at current usage. Overall AZ is much less dire than Nevada or California for water supply. Much of the Phoenix metro cities pull groundwater from the aquifer and water is sent back down through recharge/retention zones (many old neighborhoods still have flood irrigation is perfect example of this cycle). There is a lot of smart water management which makes usage much more efficient with a lot more population (More water was used in 1957 than in 2017 with 6x population). Of course our usage has dried up wetlands, Colorado river estuary, and cattle grazing is destroying desert vegetation, but most of these things are policy issues tied to agriculture not lawns, pools, and golf courses.
The figures I'm seeing suggest that the Phoenix aquifers have ~85m acre-feet (not all of it recoverable). That's less than 40 years of Phoenix usage (2.3m acre-feet annually). I would be curious to see sources suggesting 300 years.
@@fuzzzone ruclips.net/video/FHcI-IvsC2U/видео.html
First order of business, slap solar panels on a rack over the entire length of that canal.
The amount of 1) free real estate and 2) evaporation reduction you could get is insane.
So much technology and engineering we rely on everyday that we would never even know about without videos like this....
Its such an amazing world we have created for ourselves and we take most of it for granted....
Its also amazing how nature creeps in and fill the gaps and improves on some of our designs.
I moved from Arizona a few months ago. Seeing this video brought back some really, really fresh memories. I may have even seen the plane you flew in buzz my house- because you did, I knew *exactly* where you were pointing that camera. Cudos, glad to see a place I used to live in finally getting some media coverage.
Also. I used to cross this canal every other day. It was always so surreal seeing these forests... It's just a shame they burn so easily.
In 1981 when I arrived in Arizona it was a one horse town an I loved it! Pretty sure they were not expecting the growth that occurred since then. There were many areas that had large orange orchids like where Arrowhead Mall is located or along Baseline Road that also had acres of flowers. When you drove past, you could feel the cooler temperatures because of the irrigation. They continue to build while ignoring the fact that the ground water is not being replaced. Just a matter of time before the sinkholes starts appearing and neighborhoods starts to sink. I think I will go listen to I Love You Arizona and remember the good old days.
I remember when basically everything ended around Chandler Blvd and beyond it was dirt roads and farms. Until you hit that once little community of Ocotillo. Heck, i remember when the 60 ended in AJ and you had to get onto that Old West Highway to continue east. Just crazy how much Phoenix has expanded in pretty much every direction. Wonder how long until it connects to Tucson...
@@actionvestadventure Bell road was North Phoenix, Scottsdale Road north of Camelback had nothing, 75th Ave was about as far west as you cared to venture. From South mountain at night you could see all the communities separated by darkness....now one big sprawl. On the weekends you better have the turnoff to Saguaro Lake in your rear view mirror around 3PM so you could get a premium spot on the Rim. You were SOL if you got behind campers or trucks puling them on the road because they had carburetors and not fuel injection. Interstate 10 was not connected to I-40, the MAYO Clinic was in the middle of nowhere as well as Rietta Pass....oh those beautiful days! I have traveled a lot of places and so far the absolute most boring drive have been between Phoenix and Tucson...are we there yet‽‽
Roads and parking lots are a source for heat.
CAGRD disagrees with you
I lived in Phoenix area and I found that the desert has so much more life than I ever thought was possible. Birds, Snakes, Desert tortoise , Javelina , Bats, Deer , Cougar , Wild horses, Insects , just an amazing array of life . Much more that teh Sierras of Rockies
I always said the Sonoran desert is the most alive place I've ever been.
You didn't mention coyotes, cottontail and jack rabbits.
Grasshoppers, lizards, geckoes, praying mantis, ants, beetles, butterflies - have them all in my garden.
Are cottonwoods native to the desert ? The average golf course is 150 acres. How much water is needed to keep it green year round ?
This video inspires me -
I designed a project in Kenya in 2013 that was intended to have the same side-effect
This is the first time I have seen footage of it actually working
nature at its finest and most adaptive, thank you for sharing.
The permaculture demonstrations is clear ! Thanks Andrew, I love your videos
Regenerative Agriculture is the long-term key to recovering these deserts - Allan Savory, Greg Judy and many others are involved in projects that work on any continent (except Antarctica). Lego projects like this are hiding the politicians from solutions.
I'd like to add that the desert is green because of excellent water management. I lived in the east valley in the Phoenix area. There are several canals that are hundreds of years old built by the indigenous people in Arizona. In the Phoenix area, there's is never a drought compared to southern California, which has an ongoing water crisis. There is no water waste because there is spot irrigation and early morning or night watering. When I say spot irrigation, I mean spot. If there were 5 bushes/plants in an area, there was 1 tiny drip hose at the base of each one of those 5 plants. But concentrating those drip lines by the larger plants resulted in the survival of smaller plants. My front yard had a huge tree, but the rest of the yard was cactus, other succulents, and hardscape. If a home had a grass lawn, it was very small. There are greenbelts and lovely gardens even in the middle of summer as well as golf courses and pools, true, but as I said, the water is very well managed.
Plant deciduous trees on the mounts of the deserts and the streams will come back to life .
Not unless you first manage the water. Trees are naturally plantedby animals and wind, will grow if there is adequate moisture and soil fertility....which is created via lumpy texture--pits and swales that retain both water and nutrients. Build those and the trees come on own.
@@keralee The reforestation of deserts is a complex. I think that it is necessary to fence the plots to be regreened because the herbivores create the deserts without the predators to regulate them... It is not necessary to plant trees but to let the seeds of trees germinate on the ground... Then, it is necessary to water during 2 or 3 years until the trees become autonomous in water...
@ユジン Thank you for all this information ...
The Nature Conservancy has had good success restoring stream flow in Arizona. I reckon each stream is different and needs its own plan. Streams can regrow rapidly if there's not too many cows on the banks.
@@nmarbletoe8210 Yes, I agree .... Often all you need to do is put up a fence and you can see a desert greening up. We don't measure enough the damage of grazing by herbivores...
Much of the Colorado river also serves southern California and Nevada, which also have large canals and/or tunnels. Even though its called the Colorado river, before the 1920s, it was originally named the Grand river. The tributaries to this river come from many states; Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and yes Arizona. One of the largest tributaries, the Green River, originates in Wyoming, and provides up to 40% of the water to the Colorado river system, and some years, such as 2011, even more.
@Craig There is a great book about the Powell expedition down the Colorado River that actually began on the Green River up in Wyoming. It is an intersting read. The book is called, 'Down the Great Unknown - John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon' by Edward Dolnick
Yes, lawns are not the best water use, but zero scape is it's own devil in disguise: Raising ambient temperatures and running off water rather than absorbing what does fall. We need some evaporation to build ambient humidity which builds clouds and creates precipitation. We need something available to attract the humidity back. The elders of various cultures say "the trees call the rain."
Phoenix rivers and canals had once been lined by Cottonwood trees, which "notoriously" evaporate up to 40 gallons of water a day. So they started cutting them down, thank you Salt River Project who claimed all surface water rights and continue to exercise cutting trees lining irrigation ditches in the state to "keep" more surface water (that they can sell).
We need just more considerate landscaping options and there are so many.
Arizona is a grassland state. That is why it attracted the cattle ranchers. But herds can be managed consciously more than free ranged and they can also improve the ecosystem rather than stress and deplete it, so I have heard.
There are ways. We just need to be taught. Thanks for the video!
Yes! As an Arizonan I am so tired of seeing not only mature trees cut from people's yards to "save water" or because the Mesquites are messy, but then the dummies lay down GRAVEL because they're so GD lazy they don't want to rake once in a while or heaven forbid they just let the trees mulch the ground into fertile soil as nature intended. I personally believe landscaping with gravel was popularized by the mining industry so that they could create profit from the refuse of their original exploits.
This is truly fascinating! I just moved back to Arizona after having gone to school here 40 years ago - the sprawl is mind-blowing. I never knew of the forests being created by the CAP....
I'd like to see this canal-adjacent forest receive some kind of semi-protected status. I imagine that it serves as a valuable conduit for a lot of desert wildlife, along with acting as a "linear oasis" for many plant species.
Oh hey! You are by my house. Welcome!
I think the state should explore the idea of building a bunch of trincheras along all the washes, and encourage the landowners to do the same. That way less of the rain water would run off and more would soak in.
In the early 20th century the monsoon type rain on different sierras was discussed many times but very little was done. Over the Mexican border experiments were carried out to store the water in covered reservoirs but the world was distracted by other things.
I found your channel on a tour of your suburban homestead that Kirstin Dirksen did. I am very impressed I need to learn more about permaculture I am restoring a part of our farm from a wildfire, trying to heal the ecosystem. Glad I found your channel. Have a blessed day! Wendy🐞🇺🇸🦋🙏🏻
You can literally make an oasis by digging a few dishes in the desert.
It reminds me of the beautiful "wand forests on the Turkwell river in Northern Kenya. Beautiful cool places full of life in a desert area
It always puzzled me, seeing these canals, why they don't plant trees or bushes on the banks - for shade, to prevent water evaporation. I mean, it's not that expensive...
Tree roots can slowly penetrate and crack the canals cement walls.
@@allanturpin2023 I was going to answer the same ..
Stanislav .... This idea of tree is not possible .. as their roots can make cracks in canal ..
But yes we can have another idea of putting solar panels on canal ..
Which can save water evaporation + also it can save canal from sand storm and dirt from desert ..
+ It will make renewable energy ..
Yes it is little bit expensive but as Americans have so much money to waste upon like afganistan war , Vietnam war , building unnecessary walls , aiding pakistan so they can hide out people like Osama bin Laden ..
From that money a small part can be invested here as solar panels on this canal ..
In india we are doing the same .. 👍❤️
@@vandematram4 So true! I was also thinking that the canal should be covered by something useful.
@@vandematram4 I was thinking more in a direction on planting fast growing hardy vines like passiflora/grape for initial cover and to provide the "infrastructure" for some kind of climbing nightshade to grow upon (after drying up the host plants). These are not deep rooting perennial plants, and as opposed to solar panels, they are many, many times cheaper at solving the problem of water evaporation
Hey Andrew, do I recall you rightly from Prescott..?
It's been a decade and almost two since stopping by your Dameron st House with the fam?(Saw you in the Dolphin crossing over Jerome last I saw your face!?) 20 maybe 18 years ago, you e still got the same memorable smile man-
Let me know!! Family here we were born the same year, it's Jah Love Josh, Native dreadlocked roadie, green eye guy, Joshua here. Be well. * Great contribution here, thank you!
Geoff Lawton has a terrific video produced many yrs ago in Arizona that also addresses a lush native forest built off a swale that has developed over decades next to a waterway. Haven't watched the video in many yrs; it may not be the CAP Canal. But is somewhere in Central or Southern AZ...
What's even more mind-blowing is when you realize that the Arizona and Sonoma deserts wouldn't exist if we hadn't over-tilled the land and removed all of the native grasses.
Prior to the late 1800's and early 1900's, the Southwest was a lush and fertile land that was plentiful with local flora.
Than we got the black snow of the 1920's and the dust bowl of the 1930's and now we're trying to figure out how to turn back a desert.
Still, a great and interesting video.
No, precipitations were also permanently reduced.
Look online and see how China has turned huge swathes of the Gobi desert (driest desert on earth) into forests which in turn is bringing rainwater and farming into the area. The forests have grown from 5% of China's land area into 15% of China's land area, and the encroaching desert has been reversed and is now receding again. If they can do it I'm sure the USA could do it, if they were really bothered about climate change and reversing the desertification.
@@Fridaey13txhOktober Precipitation levels reduced because of the lack of native grasses to hold the moisture in to the soil.
The less grass, less water in the ground to form rain, which causes less grass to grow which causes less rain and the cycle keeps repeating.
@@MayYourGodGoWithYou I wasn't aware China has had that much success and yes, we should try to mimic their results here.
@@johnpatrick1647 There is a documentary - short - about it on RUclips I found by accident. Definitely very well worth watching though it also points out the possiblity of a future problem as they are currently only planting one species - pine trees. However China has decided that the planting of the trees is the immediate concern and when they start felling those already planted for wood then they can start to diversify into other species as required. I can understand their point of view and it seems to be working although they have had setbacks where huge swathes of trees have died and they've had to replace them. The only one species problem. But it is taking back from the desert and that is the main thing. Someone in Burkina Farso is doing something similar with Baobab trees and someone else in India has just restored a large portion of what had become unfertile, useless, land back into full fertility along with the return of the wildlife, water and traditional cultivation. Absolutely fascinating to watch and shows just how many people - and some governments - are actually doing things to try and reverse climate change and the slow descent into disaster.
I'm an American living in Thailand and I am in the process of turning 7 acres of land that only grew one crop of rice per year of rice into 7 acres of land that will produce 3 or more food crops per year.
For so many years people have been told that the only thing they can grow on their land is rice. I'm here to prove them wrong. As one of my professors once said "If you can grow weeds on it you can grow food on it" It takes time to convert rice fields into a working farm. One of the problems is the land has been depleted of most of its nutrients so in the process of changing over to food production I must replenish the ground using compost and other organic materials. I give it 5 years untill I am finished.
The production of food products other than rice will be a welcome for the locals as they either buy their vegetables off of a truck that comes around twice a day and only have what they want to sell or drive a long distancetoa market. These people will be able to walk a short distance and get anything they want at any time of the day.
Kinda hard to believe an indigenous people haven't figured out how to grow veggies but instead rely on a truck.
Maybe you shouldn't help them....eliminate that defective gene pool.
Why do all the westerners end up in Thailand tho.
@@willbass2869 random racist in comments
@@willbass2869 They aren't "indigenous" people. They're thais. They aren't any more indigenous than you are in Eastern Europe or whatever place you come from. Also they grow rice better than anyone with ducks that naturally fertilize and remove pests
@@CountingStars333 they grow rice in abundance and quality because of '60s Green Revolution in agriculture....not because of ducks.
*Stop romanticizing*
Thailand would not be a major exporter of rice if not for American & international aid programs going back decades.
We contributed a lot to improving their productivity and efficiency to such a high degree that people were released from the back breaking work of hand planting rice. Now they live in cities, own their homes and educate their children.
Ducks didn't help make Thailand a successful and up-and-coming part of world economy.
Wow! Thank for putting out this vid!
Try small farm homesteading throughout the length of the canal. Grow fruit trees, olive trees, Moringa, and Duckweed.
Small Farm Homesteaders should be able to recycle most of their sewage and trash.
Small Farm Homesteaders should be able to salvage water and store water in a way that is efficient and dynamic.
Small Farm Homesteaders should be able to maintain efficient and dynamic Organic Market Gardening.
Small Farm Homesteading means only 1-5 acres. Grazing animals need to be strictly controlled and limited to keep them from overgrazing and using up too many valuable resources. Animals like rabbits in cages and farming fish in tanks would be more ideal than grazing animals. Fertilizer can be gotten from rabbits, farming fish in tanks , and vermiculture.
Thank you for sharing helpful and informative videos!
Nice
Thanks for taking the time to make this vid, I had no idea about this. The irony is UNREAL! Really cool to see swales greening the desert on a large scale.
Great video, thumbs up. I live in Oregon and just spent 7 minutes looking for the forest in this video.
Thats quite incredible that so much vegetation can grow with just a simple change to the landscape, though its hard for me to see it as a forest. Though where i live the rainfall is high enough for a rainforest to form so im used to every other tree is nearly 100 foot tall. Its quite interesting that something as simple as green grass can be such a luxury.
I definitely agree that this little grove is hardly a forrest but I'm used to NY where we just barely don't qualify as having a rainforest in the taiga of the ADKs. Left alone any given piece of land will go from bare dirt to dense forrest in about 30years around here. (Passing through the stages of grass covered, bramble covered, slash covered, and finally tree covered.) We also have beavers who naturally build swales and "rainwater harvesting structures" for us and it seems like many places could use these helpful if destructive rodents. (Assuming they wouldn't have worse ecological impacts as an invasive species)
@@jasonreed7522 Beavers are extremely destructive in Argentina where they have been introduced, but in semi-deserts they are a must. my area has surprisingly few beavers since the rivers are quite powerful in many places. They tend to be around the coast or smaller tributaries in flatter areas since their dams get swept away otherwise.
@@Exquailibur i can see that, beavers are very adept at changing their environment so in an area where they don't belong and have no predators the environmental changes could definitely be much more negative than positive.
As far as where they live, they don't bother with actual rivers (order of 10-20 feet or 3-6 meters wide), they need the little streams of only a couple feet wide and a few inches deep to start building a pond. They also prefer to dam up flat ground since it makes a wider pond for less dam building effort. And in an environment that is used to them like the forrests of Northern North America they are invaluable since they massively improve water storage and quality and provide habitat with their ponds. Beavers make sense to restore to forrests where they used to live but were hunted to extinction by humans, but as a fully introduced species we must exercise great caution to avoid making problems worse with unintended consequences. (Look up the cobra effect for a laundry list of times were kept intentionally introducing animals and it kept making things worse before finally just having to capture or kill everything that didn't belong ourselves.)
@@jasonreed7522 What you have said about beaver preferences explains a lot about their distribution in the pacific northwest. Though due to the rainfall in my region averaging around 70-100 inches per year (depending on proximity to the coast and mountains) the drought resistance isnt what they are important for. They create ponds and lakes that otherwise dont naturally form which is an important habitat for a number of plants and animals. without beavers, the biodiversity would be much lower and several would go extinct due to their small ranges and low adaptability. The Olympic mudminnow is a species that comes to mind when i think of something that relies so heavily on habitat created by beavers or the few valleys that can form oxbow lakes.
Great video, though I'd like to correct you on something that I've yet to see any1 do here yet. All the golf courses in the Valley of the Sun use reclaimed water, not the CAP water. All the cities there are aware of the need to conserve natural sources of water. The big problem is that all the growth that's happened has in effect cancelled out those water saving initiatives.
A canal in Sri Lanka named "Yoda Ela" has the gradient of about 10 centimeters per kilometer or 6 inches per mile and it was designed to achieve two main goals. One is carrying excess water to Tissa Wewa reservoir from Kala Wewa reservoir in Anuradhapura and the other is to increase the forest density along its way. And also it is a single banking irrigation cannel. The cannel was built around 460 AD.
Yes! Before Covid I was planning on visiting this canal in Sri Lanka this winter, but then plans changed. I still have it in my sites to see it and do a video about it.
@@amillison - Great. waiting for it
Excellent!, Now I have something to talk about during the long drives through the Arizona desert. =)
never knew about these swale things. nice. very informative. thank you.
I remember lake Pleasant from my young years, but that was before the Central Arizona Project by a number of years. The population was a small fraction of what it is today. Good memories. But I can’t imagine living there today, with so much depending on one canal feeding from one river.
@Thinkingoutloud Arizona has more groundwater sources than the amount of water flowing through the CAP canals. All of the municipalities recharge the aquafiers as well in their water purification systems. Also SRP's lake systems on the Salt River is another storage system and has their own canal systems as well. The troubling issue for the Colorado River system is the dropping water levels at Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams - without that electricity the West is going to really need to go solar BIG TIME.
Pleasant is also fed from the Agua Fria. Bartlett, Roosevelt and Canyon are fed from the Verde, Salt and/or Gila. 80% of water from the Colorado is used for...Agriculture. California takes almost twice as much water than Arizona from the Colorado.
For those complaining about Phoenix and Arizona, here's some context:
Arizona receives 17% of the Colorado water. California gets 27%.
Phoenix was growing long before the Central Arizona Project was completed. Irrigation from the Salt River was, by far, the largest driver of Phoenix's growth. The mis-use of water for swimming pools, golf courses (often green water), and other residential uses is really only a small portion of the Colorado River water use. It actually illustrates that there isn't really a water shortage, in that we still have the luxury of "wasting" water. However, agriculture uses the majority of the water, including allocations to multiple Native American communities in southern Arizona.
Would an ocean water canal that moves water inland to an artificial salt lake be a great way to bring moisture into a dry region? The evaporated water could fuel the local water cycle. Is this a bad idea?
There has been talk about this in other areas: creating inland seas that grow into Mangrove forests (which tolerate the salt water) in order to transpire water into the atmosphere and combine with clouds to increase rainfall. I've heard this suggested for the Qattara Depression in Egypt.
Problem is the salt water would seep into the surrounding ground poisoning it. Groundwater is just as important for life.
But as Mr. Millison says, this might work in places where there is already little to no vegetation. For while the sea's coast might be incondusive to civilization, a rain system caused by evaporation could feed another downwind region.
@@amillison High humidity at 120 degrees No Thanks
Would putting solar panels over water ways such as rivers and streams be measurably beneficial? /like for preventing evaporation?
what a way to prevent water from reaching towns of another country.
Fascinating stuff! I used to live in the Phoenix Metro, but am now living in Tucson where there is much more permaculture and less open canals. I notice a similar effect here in Tucson with the washes and the old (now mostly underground) rivers like the Santa Cruz and Rillito River. It will be interesting to see desert greening projects with permaculture and sustainability in mind! The future is green! =)
With how little water is falling here in Colorado right now, and our largest reservoir (Blue Mesa) having already been drained to 10% this year for west coast electricity needs, wouldn't be surprised if 2022 is extremely painful for AZ. Honestly though, sustainability would have been not living in the desert, and forcing nature to bend to your will for existence in said place. Just saying.
It would be amazing to see solar panels installed above the entire waterway. Help prevent evaporation and utilize the existing structure to generate energy!
Na, they can't do that remember it's ALL about destroying the environment, it's what our gov is great at doing.
But they have literally forest the desert in 32 years. Didn't you watch the video? Vegetation where there was almost none? More birds and other wildlife?
@@TheMegadethMonk Yea, the video is showing all the new vegetation and do not showing all the vegetation that died because of this change. Is it so hard to get that taking this water from the old vegetation gonna kill it and change forests into deserts?!
Solar panels have toxic elements. when it rains they can fall into the water, and harm the local population. People will start getting cancers in a few decade.
Solar panels use more energy than they produce!
Excellent video sir. Seniors and educated elders to be respected, as they are paving way and means to the coming generation. Thanks.
Quick question - why is the canal not covered up (in some areas) to retain the evaporation? and/or getting contaminated by dirt, bird droppings, poo etc.?
Thanks!
Every time we drive by Arizona on our vacation trip to Mexico my dad tells me if they started planting trees they would grow really well and change the environment and make it the best forest around, and I just stare at him like a crazy person it’s cool seeing that some what of his proof of concept.
Yes all they need is water, which is why it is a dessert. Plant all the trees you want no water no trees that is why what is there are short shrubbery ND small trees.
@@kellybarthel8060 it only took about 30 years for nature to create the mini forest with no human intervention. If left alone to do what nature does best the area will continue to grow and increase in size with ground cover. Of course once it starts looking nice some idiots will want to dig it all up and put in a housing project.
The 'forest' is clearly there through human intervention. That's what the video was about. Humans built canals and the canals formed a dam that retains the water for the vegetation to grow.
@@TheMegadethMonkmy statement of intervention refers to the fact that humans did not plant the vegetation rather nature took advantage of the changed topography. I doubt the plant growth was probably ever thought of, by the engineers that did the initial design of the canal. Also if the soil composition and topography was only slightly different along the canal there would be no significant plant growth.
@@patzeuner8385 There is a section in the video where the narrator shows a man and claims he knew this would happen and encouraged the engineers to create this situation. However, the narrator continually uses the word 'inadvertently' in an almost hypnotic way to imply that they didn't want or didn't care that water runoff from the nearby hills and mountains could be harnessed for plant life. He clearly has some deep bias against developers. As if for thirty years of construction and millions of man hours no one considered that a mound might pool water.
My grandpa took pics of the Colorado river near Mexico with Barges moving upstream . Now Phoenix has more waterfront homes than California , every new subdivision has a lake, over 350 golf courses sucking a million gallons per day . You can't turn a desert into a water world without destroying it. I left and moved to Texas where it rains , it Quit raining in AZ , when Lake Mead goes totally dry maybe someone will realize the big mistake they made .
Life is like that. Things change. People adapt. Water is super abundant on this planet. We yet lack the technology to desalinize sea water in an energy efficient and ecological way, but we’ll figure it out. And weather patterns may shift again filling reservoirs in the West. Sure is hot and humid in Texas! I prefer AZ.
They knew and this is so wrong on so many levels
Yup, thats what happens in the northern part of Mexico. Now they struggle to grow crops due to the lack of water.
@@killerjulio yet the call out China for doing it...what a hypocritical world we live in
And what if all that evaporated water turned into clouds and rained up stream and recycled back into those lakes? Or what if it happened to rain or snow more one year in Colorado or other parts? Would these lakes fill up. Or does water never return to the land and the only thing we can hope for is that all the fresh water drains into the ocean?
I used to do construction testing in AZ, and I routinely drove to these canals to continue testing the soil and concrete processes used to make these things. It's an incredible project to continually build these things, and I have spent many hours driving my truck or walking wheelbarrows of concrete into these things.
Wouldn't it make sense to cover the canal to reduce evaporation? Especially since this canal doesn't seem to be also used for boats/leisure like in other countries
When does the government ever do anything that makes sense unless there forced too
This is where terraforming really pays off. How did you find out about it? Too bad too many are oblivious of its effectiveness...
I have been observing it for many years since Brad Lancaster pointed it out to me in Avra Valley near Tucson. I also spend a lot of time on google earth :-)
@@amillison you observed and let others be aware of it. Good job
ótimo vídeo, aqui no Brasil nós também temos um grande canal em uma zona árida, o canal do Rio São Francisco, trouxe progresso, mas também gerou muita destruição.
What are the destructive side affects?
@@em945 Many tracts of native forest were destroyed to accommodate the channel and its surroundings. Small traditional communities were divided. Some exotic fish species were introduced into the channel, directly affecting native species in the areas supplied. The volume of the São Francisco River has decreased considerably, leading to the advance of the sea under the river mouth, harming ecosystems and fishermen.
@@enricopupim847 thank you for reply Enrico. We are a very destructive species it seems.
Wow very interesting! Thanks for showing the practical example of how storing water in the soil is so much more important.
It's so important! Thanks for watching. :)