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Running Dry: A Journey From Source to Sea Down the Dying Colorado River
In 1869, John Wesley Powell led a small party down the Green and Colorado Rivers in a bold attempt to explore the Grand Canyon for the first time. After their monumental expedition, they told of raging rapids, constant danger, and breathtaking natural beauty of the American landscape at its most pristine.Jon Waterman combines sheer adventure and environmental calamity in this trailblazing cautionary account of his 2008 trip down the overtaxed, drying Colorado. Dammed and tunneled, forced into countless canals, trapped in reservoirs and harnessed for electricity, what once was untamed and free is now humbled, parched, and so yoked to human purposes that in most years it trickles away 100 miles from its oceanic destination.Waterman writes with informal immediacy in this eye-witness account of the many demands on the Colorado, from irrigating 3.5 million acres of farmland to watering the lawns of Los Angeles. He shows how our profligacy and inexorable climate change spark political conflict, and how we can avert this onrushing ecological crisis. As he follows Powell afloat and afoot, Waterman reaches out both to adventure travelers and to scientists, conservationists, environmentalists, and anyone interested in the fragile interplay between nature and humans.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
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144 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 21, 2012
Having run the Grand Canyon earlier this year and lived for a short time in Yuma, where the Colorado River coughs it last polluted breath, I was primed to enjoy this account of the zesty life and lingering, ugly death of the great river of the West. And there's a great story here, as Waterman tries to float the Colarado from source to sea. But Lord, the author does try one's patience.
He seems intent on creating some kind of personal literary statement and so lards the book with personal revelations. These are doled out in such a trite, obvious way that by the third chapter the back of my brain was silently screaming "Enough already about your frickin' mother!"
Which brings up his writing style, a clumsy pastiche of reportage, commentary and history with little feel for narrative flow, zero humor and precious few of the lyrical moments that mark the best outdoors writing.
I stuck with it because I was so interested in the subject, but if you haven't already read two of the fines books he credits as sources -- "Cadillac Desert" and "Beyond the Hundredth Meridian" -- give yourself a treat and start with those. And watch the great documentary "Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea."
He seems intent on creating some kind of personal literary statement and so lards the book with personal revelations. These are doled out in such a trite, obvious way that by the third chapter the back of my brain was silently screaming "Enough already about your frickin' mother!"
Which brings up his writing style, a clumsy pastiche of reportage, commentary and history with little feel for narrative flow, zero humor and precious few of the lyrical moments that mark the best outdoors writing.
I stuck with it because I was so interested in the subject, but if you haven't already read two of the fines books he credits as sources -- "Cadillac Desert" and "Beyond the Hundredth Meridian" -- give yourself a treat and start with those. And watch the great documentary "Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea."
October 29, 2011
This was a very good book. It's kind of sad to think about how awful we are to this planet in the name of money. We have stopped a river from reaching the sea and polluted most of it beyond recognition.
May 10, 2022
In this one, Jonathan Waterman followed the Colorado River from its headwaters to its end. (I can't say "to the sea" because the Colorado actually ran dry before reaching the ocean.) He recounts the journey, interwoven with anecdotes from historical expeditions along the Colorado, the history of attempts to use water from the river, descriptions of the surrounding ecosystems, and musings of his mother's death.
Having lived in well watered places all of my life, Running Dry was a depressing peek into another world. This book has a very environmental tone, as one might expect from a National Geographic publication. The outlook for the Colorado River basin is not pleasant. One thing that struck me was that the villain of this book was not just the big business utilities. Instead, the threat to the river was the needs and wants of millions of little people--homeowners, ranchers, fares, fishermen, tourists, and power customers.
Having lived in well watered places all of my life, Running Dry was a depressing peek into another world. This book has a very environmental tone, as one might expect from a National Geographic publication. The outlook for the Colorado River basin is not pleasant. One thing that struck me was that the villain of this book was not just the big business utilities. Instead, the threat to the river was the needs and wants of millions of little people--homeowners, ranchers, fares, fishermen, tourists, and power customers.
December 16, 2017
Combine 1) kayaking adventure, 2) serious policy discussion about the numerous issues surrounding the Colorado River, and 3) encyclopedia-level facts about the Colorado, and you have this book.
From this reader's perspective, this is not a book that can be read a few pages at a time each night before turning in (that is how I tried to read it, and failed miserably); it takes some serious time to consider all that is going on here. This is an excellent book to read if one is planning several days away and can clear several hours each day for this tome.
From this reader's perspective, this is not a book that can be read a few pages at a time each night before turning in (that is how I tried to read it, and failed miserably); it takes some serious time to consider all that is going on here. This is an excellent book to read if one is planning several days away and can clear several hours each day for this tome.
April 17, 2022
Jonathan Waterman is no stranger either to writing or paddling, having done both extensively. So when he proposed to National Geographic that he paddle down the ~1,400 mile Colorado River and write the story of man's impact on the river, and the subsequent impact on the environment, it is no surprise they accepted, and then published the book.
This 2010 recipient of the Banff Centre's Best Book in Adventure Travel is not an easy read, per se. Waterman shows in painful detail how much damage attempts to dam and divert the Colorado River has caused, and how everyone saw it coming and yet politicians rammed the decisions through anyhow.
But it's still a good read! One worth reading, since Waterman is witty, and he fills the book with interesting facts about the people and places he encounters in his paddle down the river (admittedly often with professional guides through the rapids). There's a good amount of history along the way.
And a two-sided National Geographic map! I wish more books came with one of those.
This isn't a book that will make you upset, so much as one that will make you aware. Please don't think it's a downer, since Waterman has a light touch, but he doesn't mince words either.
This 2010 recipient of the Banff Centre's Best Book in Adventure Travel is not an easy read, per se. Waterman shows in painful detail how much damage attempts to dam and divert the Colorado River has caused, and how everyone saw it coming and yet politicians rammed the decisions through anyhow.
But it's still a good read! One worth reading, since Waterman is witty, and he fills the book with interesting facts about the people and places he encounters in his paddle down the river (admittedly often with professional guides through the rapids). There's a good amount of history along the way.
And a two-sided National Geographic map! I wish more books came with one of those.
This isn't a book that will make you upset, so much as one that will make you aware. Please don't think it's a downer, since Waterman has a light touch, but he doesn't mince words either.
October 30, 2024
Very cool and very hard work to paddle the entire length of the river! And, throughout the book there tended to be an undercurrent of bias, privilege, and condescension towards people who use water in other ways or have different ways of living. He is principled and I share a lot of those principles, and it’s just hard to read a book that is really only giving one side of the story. Heather Hansman’s Downriver does a better job of communicating multiple western water perspectives and challenging her own perspectives. I also appreciated the vulnerability to tell the story of his relationship with his mom as she passed away- and I didn’t really see how it connected. Chronologically they did, but they just seemed to be 2 powerful individual stories that were trying to be woven together.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2013
A must read if you drink from the Colorado. (If you live in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Southern California or Northern Mexico, you do).
This book combines a vivid travel narrative with history and facts about the river to achieve a call to action.
Some negatives, the author tries to weave in his grieving process for his mother and analogize it to loss of the river. While I appreciate his effort to bring us into his head, it is awkward and ultimately doesn't work.
He also comes across as sanctimonious, but this is normal among enviros.
This book combines a vivid travel narrative with history and facts about the river to achieve a call to action.
Some negatives, the author tries to weave in his grieving process for his mother and analogize it to loss of the river. While I appreciate his effort to bring us into his head, it is awkward and ultimately doesn't work.
He also comes across as sanctimonious, but this is normal among enviros.
October 21, 2011
Great concept, very well-researched and written. Someone disheartening to a person who lives in Colorado. Was able to head Waterman speak and show pictures from the journey. Highly recommend to anyone in the CO River watershed, and especially to those in neighboring watersheds who take CO River water.
April 17, 2015
Impulse purchase at the Patagonia store in Minneapolis.
I enjoyed it, although it was slow in parts. Learned a lot about the history of the Colorado River and water politics in the American southwest. It also got me interested in my local waterways and the health of Lake Manitoba.
Probably a good read for those of you interested in conservation issues.
I enjoyed it, although it was slow in parts. Learned a lot about the history of the Colorado River and water politics in the American southwest. It also got me interested in my local waterways and the health of Lake Manitoba.
Probably a good read for those of you interested in conservation issues.
September 1, 2014
Had a very difficult time rating this. There was considerable good information and some rather well written prose. But the author's constant, preachy, holier-than-thou tone quickly goes from slightly grating to thoroughly unbearable. His utter contempt for anyone who may not life as he does or view the world as he does is almost too much to bear.
March 26, 2011
My favorite parts of this book are his stories from the places I have also been, gave me a chance to relive those experiences. What was sad, was thinking about places I'll never see due to the damming of rivers, as well as the damage that some humans leave on their enviroment.
January 31, 2013
It's like a really long national geographic article - and that has a place among the multitude of books on the Colorado River. Part adventure, part environmental history primer; it's an easy read that covers some really important ground.
Read
December 19, 2013Another travel book that you might enjoy is Running Dry: A Journey from Source to Sea Down the Dying Colorado River by Jonathan Waterman. Part fascinating travelogue of a trip down the river and part eye-opening environmental manifesto this is sure to engage you on some level.
August 23, 2024
Tackles an issue that every person in Western North America either has or will very soon have to face. Crazy that 30+ years ago scientists predicted, with creepy accuracy, the water crisis we are experiencing, provided better solutions, and were ignored. Money always wins.
Want to read
July 13, 2010Since I am reading the book on Hoover Dam, it should be interesting to read this.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews