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Minute 319: Bringing Life to the Colorado River Basin

Arizona Edition - In 1944, the United States and Mexico established rules for sharing the waters of the Colorado River by signing the U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty.   A little over a year ago, the two nations signed Amendment 319, a five-year agreement to cooperate on measures to preserve and study the Colorado River Basin, the stretch between the U.S.-Mexico border and the Sea of Cortez that was once a lush network of wetlands and river channels and is now a parched and mostly barren wasteland.

Beginning March 23rd and lasting for 8 weeks, about 1 percent of the Colorado River will be released to makes its way to Sea of Cortez and bring new life as it flows through the once lush river delta.

To find out more, KAWC’s Lou Gum spoke with Jennifer Pitt of the Environmental Defense Fund.  Pitt is the Director of the Colorado River Project at EDF.  She’s been working for years on ways to create international, state and local partnerships to both manage river water and bring life back to the delta…(originally aired 03/12/14).

This piece was featured in the March 12th Arizona Edition.  Other pieces featured in the show can be found below in the related content section.

Lou grew up in Tucson and has a long family history in the state of Arizona. He began his public radio career in 1988 at KNAU in Flagstaff as a classical music DJ and has been hooked on public radio since, transitioning to news after trying his hand at several other careers in publishing and commercial broadcasting. Lou has a degree in American Studies from Arizona State University and was KAWC's Morning Edition host for two and half years before becoming News and Operations Director.
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