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>> We've all learned that water is an irreplaceable resource that connects us to people around
the world, as well as to the past and to the future. We also know that human activities
are changing the location and quality of water and affecting the hydrological cycle, in ways
that increase our risk of waterborne disease, population displacement, economic disruption,
natural disasters, and even violent conflict. The Center for Unconventional Security Affairs
and other institutes at UCI are carrying out research that helps us understand the extent
and gravity of this challenge. We're also convinced that a future in which the needs
and aspirations of everyone are met through a sustainable supply of freshwater is possible.
We're training the next generation of students to think about these challenges and develop
the innovations that take us in this direction. UCI - located on the edge of this marsh, with
the deserts on one side and some of the world’s most beautiful coastline on the other - has
a special bond with water. It's a fitting place to honor Alexandra Cousteau, who is
continuing the legacy of the Cousteau family through an organization she founded called
Blue Legacy. I am delighted that Alexandra will be on campus on May 4 to receive this
year’s Human Security Award, which we give out to honor someone who has dedicated his
or her life to meeting the challenges of the world’s most vulnerable communities.
>> There is a lot of dedicated faculty that really do want to make a difference and want
to help students empower themselves so they can make a difference as well.
>> As a UCI student, I have a real passion for community engagement. And a friend let
me know about a nonprofit organization on campus that was working in a village in Africa.
After joining them, I was able to spend a few weeks abroad looking at water-quality
and water-resource issues.
>> And one of the big issues that we saw was a lack of education, just in basic sanitation,
hygiene or even what water quality was.
>> I’m really excited about Alexandra Cousteau receiving the Human Security Award because
it really highlights how one individual person can stand up for something like water quality
and bring a lot of people together.
>> Not only does she raise awareness, but she really also brings home the fact that
water is not just an international issue. It's not just a problem in Africa. It is also
a problem at home. It's a problem in California.
>> I wanted to live my life with purpose and to actually make an impact before I leave
this world.
>> So this place is where once the Colorado River once raged into the sea. And it spread
all the way to the mountains?
>> Yeah, from here and all the way to Baja California, to the mountains over there. This
is just mud, tidal water, no river water.
>> This endless mudflat was once the mouth of the Colorado River’s delta. It covered
an area the size of Rhode Island, nearly two million acres from Arizona to the Sea of Cortez.
>> We journey into Mexico and discover for ourselves why a river must reach the sea,
and what happens when it doesn’t.
>> We are in the town of San Luis Rio Colorado, I can tell you in just 5 minutes our world
has changed dramatically, everything is different.
>> Osvel Hinojosa-Huerta has been fighting for the Colorado for 15 years. As an ornithologist,
he realizes that birds disappearing as the river dried up indicated a wider environmental
catastrophe. And began his battle to return flow to the dry river bed.
>> This area used to have a river flowing through it. And not just water but also a
forest full of trees, with a lot of wildlife in it.
>> And what is this sand, where does it come from?
>> Well, basically this is just the ocean from the Grand Canyon.
>> This is the Grand Canyon I am holding my hands?
>> That's right.
{ >> We used to swim there, jumping from trees. There were really big fish. The bagre fish
were really big, and black mojarras like this. Now that the river is going dry, the few fish
that are left are dying. It is very scary. }
>> All but one-tenth of the Colorado River is allocated to the seven U.S. states just
north of the border. What's left is extracted here at the Morelos Dam just inside Mexico.
{ >> One of the recommendations for Mexico and the United States was to build dams that
divert the water that is to be distributed to Mexico from the Colorado River. Nearly
all of this water is assigned to farms and cities. With close to 10 percent of the water
going to the cities of Mexicali and Tijuana alone. So there is no water to assign the
natural environment. This is why, unless we have surplus water, we cannot divert a single
drop to the south. }
>> And how far does this extend, this desert?
>> Oh, for miles and miles. There are thousands of acres like this, just bare soil.
>> So this is really just dead land now.
>> Pretty much, pretty much.
>> So there were steamboats here? Going up to Yuma?
>> Going all the way up to Yuma. From the gulf.
>> And trees and water.
>> A delta jungle.
>> Are we lost? Because I feel lost.
>> 80 years ago, this was a wetland of forests and deep emerald lagoons. The mesquite and
cottonwood forests, the marshes, the jaguar, deer, and countless birds and fish, have all
fled or disappeared forever. It took just one lifetime for upstream damns to stop the
river and destroy it all.
>> So here you get to see the joys of filmmaking in the Mexican desert.
>> We may have found our savior.
>> Juan Butron was one of the first locals to discover the last major wetland in the
delta. And he has witnessed firsthand how water can restore life to this parched land.
{ >> For me, it’s very important because this is where all species of fish reproduce.
It is where all fish go to spawn, which is important for nature and the environment.
Therefore, that water really needs to reach the sea. }
>> In a small fishing village on the shores of the Sea of Cortez, the final chapter of
the river's loss is told in disappearing fisheries in fractured communities. The loss of the
river destroyed the nurseries of the gulf, the delta's estuaries where the life of the
sea once flourished.
{ >> If the river reached sea, fish like corvina or shrimp will come. If they let the water
go, the sea life would increase here in front of the gulf. But now that there is no water,
we are struggling to fish. }
>> It has been over 50 years that it has no longer reached the sea. You forget that the
river forms a connection between the Rocky Mountains and the Gulf of California. We just
think about the water that is needed in Mexicali or Las Vegas. But we forget about the environment.
We forget about the deltas. And for sure we forget about the sea. The sea really needs
the water. Marine life really needs the water.
>> It would take just over 1 percent of the river’s flow and the Colorado would reconnect
with the sea. River estuaries are the most productive parts of the world’s oceans.
When we lose them, we are all impoverished.