{"product_id":"2940015966985","title":"Water Wrangers: The History of the Colorado River District","description":"A Story About the Embattled Colorado River,\u003cbr\u003ethe Growth of the West and the 75-Year History of\u003cbr\u003ethe Colorado River District.\u003cbr\u003eThe Colorado River is one of America’s wildest rivers in terms of terrain and natural attributes, but is actually modest in terms of water quantity. The Mississippi surpasses the Colorado’s annual flow in a matter of days.\u003cbr\u003eYet the Colorado provides some or all of the domestic water for\u003cbr\u003esome 35 million Southwesterners, most of whom live outside of\u003cbr\u003ethe river’s natural course in rapidly growing desert cities.\u003cbr\u003eThe river fully or partially irrigates four-million acres of desert land that\u003cbr\u003eproduces much of America’s winter fruits and vegetables. It also provides\u003cbr\u003ehundreds of thousands of people with recreational opportunities. To put a relatively small river like the Colorado to work, however, has resulted in both miracles and messes: highly controlled use and distribution systems with\u003cbr\u003emultiplying problems and conflicts to work out, historically and into the future.\u003cbr\u003eThe Colorado River District was created in 1937 with a dual mission: to protect the interests of the state of Colorado in the river’s basin and to defend local\u003cbr\u003ewater interests in Western Colorado, a region that produces 70 percent of the river’s total water but only contains 10 percent of the state’s population.\u003cbr\u003eAbout the Author: George Sibley is a freelance writer, retired educator and noted chronicler of western issues who has lived on Colorado’s Western Slope for 45 years.","brand":"Colorado River District","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47153141481712,"sku":"2940015966985","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940015966985_p0.jpg?v=1763627118","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940015966985","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}