While driving home for fall break, I noticed that the Delaware River water level was significantly lower than when we went on our paddle trip. The image above is the main river 5 minutes away from my house, and I was surprised by how low the water level is in this river was as well. You can see where the water normally is. The lack of rain over the past couple months is showing across all bodies of water in the area.
These two maps are of the Delaware canal that begins in Easton. For Tim’s and my StoryMap project we are researching the canal. I thought it would be great to show some of our progress and what you can do with the canal. The map on the left is a historic map with the locations of all of the locks. This is the path the coal carrying, mule pulled, boats would take to get to Easton. The map on the right is an updated map with all of the towns that the canal passes through on both sides of the river. It’s an amazing trip to take with plenty of good restaurants along the way if you have a bike and some free time.
I found an NPR article about how irrigation for farming could lead to many rivers being dried up. For example, many streams in Colorado and Kansas were no longer “functioning”, as in they were all dried up and the only thing there was a dirt path. These waterways get their water partially front groundwater, but farmers have been interfering through irrigation. The deep wells that have been drilled in already pretty dry areas, so when crops are grown there, the land becomes drier. Since it doesn’t rain a lot there, the plants grow by pulling water up through the ground. Farmers also pump water, so much so that the water table as fallen drastically. This has made it so the water cannot flow into the rivers anymore. The article mentions this happening in many other places too, such as California, India, and China. I think this is one example of the relationship between us and rivers. In this case, how our actions affect rivers and how changes in the river can affect us too.
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