The dusty smear running in between used to be the Colorado river. It's been decades?

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Does "It's been decades" mean "The Colorado river has been decades in dusty smear (since it has reached the sea)"?

Context:

A historic US-Mexico deal will see 130 billion litres of water infuse the river's parched delta, leaving an explosion of life in its wake
FROM above it looks like a meandering yellow scar. On either side lie lush green polygons – the irrigated fields of the Mexicali valley just south of the US border, where tomatoes, cucumbers and onions grow in what should be a desert. The dusty smear running in between used to be the Colorado river. It's been decades since it has reached the sea.MOre:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129602.800-huge-water-pulse-to-bring-colorado-river-back-from-

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Type: Question • Score: 9 • Views: 891 • Replies: 17

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View best answer, chosen by oristarA

@oristarA,

The river's water throughout the Colorado's basin, has been, for almost a hundred years, a source of irrigation water for farming , potable water for the Los Angeles basin, and mining. That's about 10 decades .

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@oristarA,

The dusty smear running in between used to be the Colorado river. It's been decades since it (the Colorado River) has reached the sea.

Note: Colorado River is the correct spelling.

1 Reply

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

The dusty smear running in between used to be the Colorado river. It's been decades since it (the Colorado River) has reached the sea.

Note: Colorado River is the correct spelling.

Thanks.
But the question in the title of the thread is not yet solved.
1) between? between what?
2) does smear here mean blemish?

1 Reply

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

1) between? between what?
2) does smear here mean blemish?

1. Between the lush green polygons on either side.

2. A. smear is a mark made by something wet. If you lick your fingertip and rub it in a line on a window you will make a smear.

1 Reply

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

oristarA wrote:

1) between? between what?
2) does smear here mean blemish?

1. Between the lush green polygons on either side.

2. A. smear is a mark made by something wet. If you lick your fingertip and rub it in a line on a window you will make a smear.

Something wet can grow green by germinating. Dusty smear? Likely?

2 Replies

@oristarA,

The "dusty smear" is his way of describing (in a pejorative way) the almost-dried-up bed of the (once mighty) river.

0 Replies

@oristarA,

the writer is using almost trite phrases trying its damndest to be "artsy" in its description. Its a beginners trick. "polygons" are the farm fields along each bank

"Between" means the stream line as would be seen from the air. Its "between" the banks of the stream
The Colorado river has been progressively dried up by folks "stealing" the water for all sorts of stream side uses. What was a roaring stream north of Glen Canyon dam gradually loses flow until theres almost NOTHING left to flow into the sea.

The whole situation doesn't deserve such hammy handed writing

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Most of it got siphoned off to "grow" Los Angeles and the San Fernando valley. Movie stars need lots of water.

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It's a very interesting article, Oristar.

Think of it this way, Oristar:
if hundreds of million of gallons were pumped out of the Yellow River each day in order to irrigate Orange groves, Almonds, Peaches and Apricots as well as provide clean drinking water for a several million people living 1000 or miles away to the extent that the flow of water in the river was reduced to, first, a tiny stream and, finally, just a hollowed out place in the ground where there once would have been a great deal of water, this author would mourn the river, instead of seeing how the water has not been wasted but used for other, some would say, good purposes.

The 'dirty smear', as someone said above, is just a sarcastic description of the river like saying "It's not a line on a map, it's a smudge on a piece of paper."

~~Note: this experiment to revitalize the Colorado River delta comes at an odd time it seems to me. California is in the midst of a ten year drought and this 'pulse' of water will go, not to provide water for cities (or Hollywood actors) but to grow cottonwood trees. I'm surprised there hasn't been more opposition to the plan.

Joe(What does everybody else think?)Nation

1 Reply

@Joe Nation,

Quote:

The 'dirty smear', as someone said above

So what am I, chopper liver?

1 Reply

@McTag,

This is how lazy I am.

I was in the middle of composing my all too important reply when I remembered this post:

Quote:

The "dusty smear" is his way of describing (in a pejorative way) the almost-dried-up bed of the (once mighty) river.

I knew, almost for certain, it was you who posted it, but the 'almost' part prevented from saying "As McTag said so brilliantly....... ." just in case it was Farmerman or Contrex and I'd then have to deal with them.

Now, could I have closed my 'reply page' gone back to the thread, found your post, made certain of your authorship and then gone back to continue writing my reply??
Yes. Because that is exactly what I just did now.
But, I didn't. I wrote 'someone'.

Because that's how lazy I am, occasionally.

"What am I, chopped liver?" could be the subject of an interesting thread.
Why is something so delicious considered to be a pejorative??

Joe(You are really more of a pate.)Nation

0 Replies

Chopped liver sucks.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

I just chose something I thought sounded vaguely American. Was I right?

Mc(Of course I know how much I'm revered in these circles)Tag

1 Reply

@McTag,

Yeah . . . more a New York thing--American Jewish.

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@farmerman,

Quote:

Farmer, the guy interested in seeing truth: The whole situation doesn't deserve such hammy handed writing

Ori, the US has been stealing Mexico's water for over a century. Is there a bigger thief on the planet than the USA. Possibly the UK back in its heyday.

Quote:

http://www.truth-out.org/archive/item/81071:illegal-mexican-immigrants-or-water-refugees

Illegal Mexican Immigrants or Water Refugees?
Sunday, 16 November 2008 09:38 By JoShing Yang, AlterNet

An estimated 67,000 acre-feet of water seeps from the canal annually. In 2006, the Mexican government and two California environmental groups filed a lawsuit to stop the canal-lining project-ultimately unsuccessful. This captured seepage water will be sent to San Diego for municipal use. Now, Mexico has even less water to use, although theoretically it will still get its share of water of 1.5 million acre-feet under the 1944 treaty. The new Imperial Valley reservoir and the All-American Canal lining are two nails in the coffin of Mexico's water future. The triumphant U.S. water and irrigation districts, the winners of the two latest battles in the U.S.-Mexico water wars, are gloating over their victory in capturing the last drops of water in the Colorado River before they reach Mexico. Now, in the drought-stricken southwest, they can continue to irrigate vast corporate farms planted with thirsty crops, hose millions of suburban lawns, sprinkle golf courses, and fill tens of thousands of private swimming pools.

The losers are, naturally, poor Mexican peasants and subsistence farmers. Drought-induced social strains are the hardest for the most vulnerable people in Mexico and will further fuel illegal migration to the United States.

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I love chopped liver.
Come back to New York.
We'll go to Ben's Kosher Deli in the Fashion District.
We'll have Matzo Ball Soup.
Then, a nice scoop of Chopped Liver with some Tomatoes, Boiled Eggs and slices of Fresh Bread. And a glass tea, yes?

Joe(let me know when)Nation

1 Reply

@Joe Nation,

so you ignore everybody else? What am I a durian fruit?

0 Replies

The dusty smear running in between used to be the Colorado river. It's been decades?

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