Colorado River Managemen t, provides information on water use from the Colorado River, including a good summary of laws that regulate water distribution. By understanding stream actions and the factors that affect stream flow we can make wiser land use decisions and protect people from flooding stream is a channel flow of any size. Geologists use the term stream to refer to the smallest creek or the largest river.
Streams bring water to irrigate crops and to supply our domestic needs.
We have dammed streams to create reservoirs, polluted waterways with industrial and agricultural wastes, and altered stream channels to ensure ease of transportation. In modifying stream systems we have often discovered belatedly that the original natural system worked best. Map of the principal hydrologic features of the Colorado River basin. Click on the image to view an expanded version. Lake Mead, the reservoir behind the dam, is a popular recreation site.