The Colorado River flows through the Grand Canyon, where it’s glimpsed by 5 million tourists every year. But it’s much more than a scenic resource. Aqueducts from the Colorado provide drinking water for major cities in Southern California and Arizona. And water from the Colorado River provides irrigation for 90 percent of the vegetables eaten in winter in the United States. Beginning in the Rocky Mountains and fed by many tributaries, the Colorado River used to empty into the ocean at the Gulf of California. Today so much of the river’s water is used by people that the river runs dry 50 miles before it reaches the gulf. (Kojihirano / Shutterstock) Read More