Messing with Maps: Colorado River edition

The lopsided ways of Western water law

The Imperial Irrigation District in southern California uses more Colorado River water than the entire state of Colorado. The Southern Nevada Water system’s consumptive use (shown here) is the difference between total withdrawals from Lake Mead (404,065 af) and Las Vegas Wash return flows (227,809 af). Source: USBR.

Back in 1996, the town of Silverton, C…