Phoenix: A city in the desert.(Arizona)(Brief Article)

Throughout U.S. history, water has helped to determine where and how people live. Early U.S. settlers often set up communities near rivers, lakes, or oceans because the settlers depended on water for survival. Not only did early settlers need water to drink, bathe, and grow food, but they also used water to transport goods and people from one place to another.

As the population of the United States grew, people started to spread out. They began to look for ways to settle in areas that had little water. In 1870, people founded a town right in the middle of an Arizona desert. That town became the city of Phoenix, one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States today.

How Can People Live in The Desert?

People can survive in the desert if they know how to change their environment to meet their needs. In Phoenix, early settlers dug canals to carry water from the Salt River to their crops. As Phoenix's population grew, so did its need for water. People had to find new ways to get water to irrigate crops and use in their homes and businesses.

In the early 1900s, the U.S. government built a dam, or barrier, across the Salt River. Water collects behind a dam, forming a lake called a reservoir. Reservoirs are used to store water. Phoenix also gets water by pumping it ...