THE WATER IN THE WEST PROJECT

The Middle East, Northern Africa and the American Southwest are prime examples of rain-poor regions. There, water means wealth and lack of it means relative poverty. We are now in a drought here in the West. There is talk of starting to ration water. Its been the driest year on record in southern California. The Sierra snow pack is very low. This recent note that I sent to a friend in New York explains why our lack of rain has spread fear of a severe fire season in the West. It reminds me of our last severe drought in the 1980s. At that time it hardly rained for six years. The snow pack that feeds the state during the dry summer and fall months is as low now as it was then. We are living on borrowed time in the West and many of us know that an extended drought can occur here at any time.

The American West was settled during an unusually wet period and during the 20th Century we have come to expect ample rain and snow to slake our need for water. But that could change at any moment. Tree ring samples have shown that before the coming of European and American settlers the West had extended periods of drought, sometimes up to thirty years. If even a ten-year drought were to occur much of California and the West may have to depopulate. The economic consequences to Californias economy would be staggering. With the worlds fifth largest economy a prolonged drought in California would have profound effects throughout the rest of the United States and the world.

Since 1950 the world has tripled its water use. The Ogallala aquifer (underlying most of the Great Plains) and other key aquifers in India and China continue unrelenting declines. During the growing season, the entire Colorado River vanishes into city water systems and farmland furrows before it can empty into the Gulf of California; for the same reasons that Chinas Yellow River no longer reaches the sea. While the water crisis is global, Robert Dawson has chosen to focus his Water in the West project on the American West. It is here that the impact of our water crisis stands out.

For Dawson, water is the most compelling metaphor and prescient symbol for the legacy of attitudes that have profoundly shaped the landscape of the West. The full range of our nation's regard for the natural world has manifested itself in western water history-from loving stewardship and respect to abuse and plunder. Dawsons photography examines the cultural values and attitudes that have brought us to this critical point with the natural world.

Robert Dawson's photography in the Water in the West Project evolved from his travels throughout the West and his look at our culture's relationship to water. The work is concerned about our attitudes toward agriculture, mining, resource development, recreation, Native Americans, growth, and environmental controversy. Some of the work addresses the issues with irony. Some of the work looks at our culture's desire to possess, control and shape the land and water to our needs. Some photographs document abuse while others examine a complex, evolving relationship to water that Dawson hopes to influence with his work.

Link to book.