When John F. Kennedy opened the Flaming Gorge Dam in northern Utah to great fanfare in 1963, he turned it into a political instrument. Seeing these 150-meter-high walls reshape the landscape, we can imagine the pride of the Democratic president. However, no matter how dizzying it is, this monumental hydraulic infrastructure offers only fragile promises. Since 1922, when its annual flow was distributed among seven American states and Mexico, the amount of water supplied by the structure was overestimated by 25% compared to reality.
“It is on these foundations of water availability that the American Southwest was built.”explains American photographer John Trotter, who has been documenting the consequences of the profound alteration of the Colorado for twenty years. This long investigation took him from the western United States to northwestern Mexico, where he became interested in excessive water consumption in California, changes in biodiversity along the river, and the agriculture that depends on it.
More recently, he has focused on how Colorado recipients are coping with their dramatic drop in standards. “At some point there could be an open conflict between states over water, because no one would exist without it”analyze. Of manna, the river has become the nightmare of political leaders.
Dazzling contrast
Colorado provides water and electricity to more than 40 million Americans and supports the agricultural production that powers the rest of the country. However, scientists estimate that its flow has decreased by around 20% compared to the 20th century.my century. The worst scenarios even foresee a new drop of 20% between now and 2050. In the seven states that depend on its supply, this new situation weighs on the electoral campaign for the presidential elections on November 5. “California does not provide water but it is the state that consumes the most. This creates strong resentment in Wyoming.”comments the photographer.
In his images the contrast is evident. On one side, Arizona, Nevada and California. On the other, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Downstream, a population disconnected from water, which tours its lakes by motor boat and generously waters its golf courses and public gardens. Upstream, a rural area made of snow, hunting and fishing, storing water from the generously snow-covered Rocky Mountains. Here and there, graffiti denounces Joe Biden’s environmental policy.
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