relies on the flow of that river, everything from urban water use, to farming, to energy sources,o recreaond what we do know is that there is an approaching shortage coming. >> i had the good fortune of going down the colorado river in 2008. this is before i knew anything about the project. and i noticed on the river every night you had to pull your boats and tie them really tight. and i said "why do we have to do that? you know, the river is just the river, why--why does it change at night?" and i came to realize that las vegas, the lights come on, they release more water throughout the river. so, i got a sense that, "wait a second, so this is a--this is a man-made machine, this incredible canyon that we're in." and then, i think i realized shortly after that that the water in the river does not reach its end. and that was--there was a certain amount of outrage about that. the mighty colorado river does not reach its end. it was a story that i needed to tell. >> to prevent disputes over water rights, the 1922 colorado river compact divvied up the river. the problem was allocations were bas