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Bringing New Life to the Colorado Delta’s Fisheries

This post is part of a series on the Colorado River Delta. The Colorado River sustains more than 30 million people and vast areas of farmland.  But with no flow reaching the delta and the sea in most years, those last in line for the river in Mexico are suffering. For the fishing town of...

This post is part of a series on the Colorado River Delta.

Colorado River delta seriesThe Colorado River sustains more than 30 million people and vast areas of farmland.  But with no flow reaching the delta and the sea in most years, those last in line for the river in Mexico are suffering.

For the fishing town of El Golfo on the Upper Gulf of California and the native Cucapá community of El Mayor in the river’s delta, the damming and diverting of the Colorado has brought traditional ways of life to the brink.

Yet with a recent promise of returning water to the delta and Upper Gulf, there is hope for a turnaround of fortunes.

To learn more, watch this video (also embedded above).  Then help restore water to the Colorado River by joining Change the Course. Sign up online or text ‘River’ to 77177.

Fishermen in the Gulf of California at sunset
Photo: Cheryl Zook, National Geographic

Special thanks to Silk and Coca-Cola, Charter Sponsors for Change the Course. Additional funding generously provided by the Walton Family Foundation.

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Meet the Author

Sandra Postel
Sandra Postel is director of the Global Water Policy Project and author of Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity. From 2009-2015, she served as Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society. Sandra is also co-creator of Change the Course, the national water stewardship initiative awarded the 2017 US Water Prize for restoring billions of gallons of water to depleted rivers and wetlands. The recipient of several honorary degrees, she works to bridge science, policy, and practice to promote innovative ways of securing water to meet both human and ecosystem needs.