Aquifer Recharge, Storage, and Recovery - Southwest Hydrology ...

In PrintDamming Grand Canyon: The1923 USGS Colorado RiverExpeditionby Diane E. Boyer and Robert H. Webb,Utah State University Press, 2007, $35Reviewed by Betsy Woodhouse – SouthwestHydrology, University of ArizonaIn 1922, the Colorado River Compactallocated the river’s water among theseven basin states. However, no meansto control that water existed. The U.S.Geological Survey and the much youngerU.S. Reclamation Service were strugglingto figure out their respective roles, andboth wanted a say in control of theColorado. The notes and maps of JohnWesley Powell’s earlier Grand Canyonexplorations were not reliable enough fortheir engineering needs: a detailed mapwas needed.For nearly three months in the summer andfall of 1923, 12 men in four aged, woodenboats traveled through and mapped 29potential dam sites in Grand Canyon.Damming Grand Canyon: The 1923 USGSColorado River Expedition sets the stagefor this wild adventure and then providesa day-by-day account as recorded in theparticipants’ journals.Prelude to the ExpeditionThe book begins with the history ofdevelopment of the Colorado River,including early attempts to control it. Itdelves into politics as well, discussing theformation and early leadership of USGSand Reclamation and their disagreementsover where dams should be built and howthe decision should be made. Finally, itdescribes how the 1923 expedition wasorganized and the dynamics of the group.Journal EntriesThe expedition included engineers,geologists, topographers, boatmen, andcooks. Eight of the men kept journals;their entries, supplemented with narrative,make up the middle part of the book.The journal entries are daily; oftenseveral men’s accounts of the same dayare included. Personal notes, such aswhat they ate or heard on the radio in theevening, add interest. The entries alsooffer insight about the pre-dam GrandCanyon. They wrote of abundant flyinginsects and the scarcity of sandbarsin Upper Granite Gorge, conditionstypically—and incorrectly—attributedtoday to the presence of dams, accordingto the authors.Virtually no mention was made ofenvironmental or aesthetic impacts shoulda dam be built in the canyon, exceptin one brief entry where the trip leadernoted that a proposed damsite might haveengineering drawbacks, but “at least itwouldn’t inundate Bright Angel Creek andPhantom Ranch.”AftermathThe book ends with a description of thesubsequent careers of the expeditionmembers, the outcome of their work, andthe paths the agencies followed.For readers lacking familiarity with theagencies’ histories and the individualsinvolved, it can take some time to keep itall straight. The book is heavily footnoted,which is variously distracting, helpful, andinteresting. Some footnotes explain thesignificance of a particular entry, describehow the reports conflict, or elaborate ona relationship. Without the footnotes, thejournal entries alone would not convey thesame level of conflict among the group.Damming Grand Canyon also containsabundant photos from the expedition thatprovide interesting insight on the men,their equipment, and how the canyonlooked at that time.This book has appeal for a diverseaudience ranging from those interestedin USGS/Reclamation history to thosefamiliar with the canyon and its geology,river rafters, environmentalists interestedin fate the canyon escaped, and those whodream of big dams.Ground-water occurrence and movement, 2006, and water-level changes in the Detrital,Hualapai, and Sacramento Valley Basins, Mohave County, Arizona, by D.W. Anning, M. Truini,M.E. Flynn, and W.H. Remickhttp://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2007/5182/Dissolved solids in basin-fill aquifers and streams in the southwestern United States, byD.W. Anning, N.J. Bauch, S.J. Gerner, M.E. Flynn, S.N. Hamlin, S.J. Moore, D.H. Schaefer, S.K.Anderholm, and L.E. Spangler http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2006/5315An online interactive map service for displaying ground-water conditions in Arizona, byF.D. Tillman, S.A. Leake, M.E. Flynn, J.T. Cordova, and K.T. Schonauerhttp://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1436Land subsidence and aquifer-system compaction in the Tucson Active Management Area,south-central Arizona, 1987-2005, by R.L. Carruth, D.R. Pool, and C.E. Anderson.http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2007/5190Water-level and land-subsidence studies in the Mojave River and Morongo Ground-waterBasins, by C.L. Stamos, K.R. McPherson, M. Sneed, and J.T. Brandthttp://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2007/5097/Urban-related environmental variables and their relation with patterns in biological communitystructure in the Fountain Creek Basin, Colorado, 2003-2005, by R.E. Zuellig, J.F. Bruce, E.E.Evans, and R.W. Stognerhttp://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2007/5225/May/June 2008 • Southwest Hydrology • 41