Irrigation in the American Southwest

Getting Started What does the American Southwest mean to you? Write your responses on a sheet of paper. Try to come up with at least five ideas or concepts regarding the Southwest

Mental Map Using your ideas and concepts of the American Southwest draw a mental map of the region. Include as many details of the region as you can.

The American Southwest

The Climate of the American Southwest Annual rainfall for select cities in the Southwest Phoenix, AZ Santa Fe, NMPhoenix, AZSanta Fe, NM

What we think the Southwest looks like.

What some parts actually look like.

What is Irrigation? To supply dry lands with water As you will see methods of irrigation can take many forms, including retaining ponds, canals, and reservoirs.

Why was irrigation necessary in the American Southwest? This area of the country is exceptionally arid or lacking in water. Less than ten inches of rain per year qualifies as a desert climate Less than twenty inches of rain per year qualifies as a steppe climate Irrigation was necessary for agricultural development and permanent settlement

What role has irrigation played in the American Southwest? The groups of people who have lived in the American Southwest have a history of using irrigation projects to make their land more productive. Let us look at three groups of inhabitants (two historic and one modern) who have irrigated this land.

Irrigating Groups The Hohokam The Spanish colonizers The U.S. government

Pre-Colonial Group: The Hohokam An indigenous group that lived in the Sonoran desert, one of the four major deserts in the United States.

Spanish Colonizers “ The climate of this country and the temperature of the air is almost like that of Mexico, because it is sometimes hot and sometimes it rains. I have not yet seen it rain, however, except once when there fell a little shower with wind, such as often falls in Spain … There are no kinds of fruit or fruit trees. ” Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, 1540

U.S. Government

Methods of Irrigation For a more detailed look at the irrigation projects of these three groups and the impact irrigation has had on the Southwest click HERE or go to:HERE Add directions

Conclusions Generations of inhabitants in the American Southwest deemed irrigation necessary to their quality of life. Irrigation systems in the arid southwest did not occur in a historical vacuum. Successive groups built upon the foundations of their predecessors and enhanced the projects with available technology. While the scope and size of their undertakings differ, each group altered the landscape for their own gain.

Conclusions (cont.) These modifications (irrigation projects), while beneficial and necessary for inhabitation, also have environmental consequences. These include: -The damming or free-flowing rivers -The lose of water in estuaries which raise the salinity (saltiness) of brackish water -Impact to the natural plants and animals

Water You know it is the basis of life. Hopefully, now you have some understanding of the lengths to which humans go to obtain it in steady supply