Water Policy Group member Anne Castle – former assistant secretary of the Interior for Water and Science and a Colorado River veteran – has written the foreword for a new book titled Living River – The Promise of the Mighty Colorado. The book explores the endangered Colorado River from source to sea with conservation photographer Dave Showalter, using powerful visual storytelling to illustrate how we can create a resilient watershed if we change our relationship with water.
A section of the foreword is shared below and the book is now available for purchase through Mountaineers Books.
“The Colorado River is a waterway of superlatives—the most volatile supplies, the most iconic landscapes, the most dammed, the most litigated, and, lamentably, the most threatened. It is also a river of contrasts, encompassing thriving cities juxtaposed with large swaths of rural areas where many households lack clean drinking water, whitewater rapids providing challenge and recreation upstream of a dried-up estuary, and lush and lucrative farmland whose very viability is threatened by diminished supplies […] Imagery provides a visceral understanding of the value of this river. It deepens our sense of community and stimulates appreciation for the many ways in which this river is loved—and being loved to death. These stunning pictures and the stories that accompany them offer touchstones of understanding of the river’s dilemma and furnish a foundation for a stronger commitment to sustainability.”