Paria River
| Paria River | |
 A backpacker at the confluence of Buckskin Gulch and the Paria River
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| States | Utah, Arizona |
| Source | Near the Pink Cliffs |
| - location | Tropic, Utah |
| - elevation | 6,437 ft (1,962 m) |
| - coordinates | 37°39′07″N 112°04′41″W / 37.65194°N 112.07806°W |
| Mouth | Colorado River |
| - location | Lee's Ferry, Arizona |
| - elevation | 3,084 ft (940 m) |
| - coordinates | 36°51′31″N 111°36′03″W / 36.85861°N 111.60083°WCoordinates: 36°51′31″N 111°36′03″W / 36.85861°N 111.60083°W |
| Length | 95 mi (153 km) |
| Basin | 1,410 sq mi (3,652 km2) |
| Discharge | for Lee's Ferry |
| - average | 28 cu ft/s (1 m3/s) |
| - max | 16,100 cu ft/s (456 m3/s) |
| - min | 1 cu ft/s (0 m3/s) |
The Paria River /pəˈriːə/ is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately 95 miles (153 km) long, in southern Utah and northern Arizona in the United States. It drains a rugged and arid region northwest of the Colorado, flowing through roadless slot canyons along part of its course.
It is formed in southern Utah, in southwestern Garfield County from several creeks that descend from the edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, meeting just north of Tropic. It flows SSE across Kane County and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Along the Arizona state line, it descends through the Vermilion Cliffs in the Paria Canyon and onto the Paria Plateau. It joins the Colorado from the northwest approximately 5 mi (8 km) southwest of Page, Arizona and the Glen Canyon Dam. The lower 20 mi (32 km) of the river are within the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, which is administered by the Bureau of Land Management; a permit is required for any overnight visit. The Paria is essentially a large creek and is not navigable.
A 2004 study estimated that the Tropic Ditch, a historic artificial irrigation canal that diverts water from the East Fork Sevier River, loses 1060 acre-feet per year to seepage, and half of that seepage (530 acre-feet per year) ends up in the Paria River, bringing with it 1829 tons of salt per year. To help restore the salinity of the Paria and Colorado Rivers to more natural levels, the Tropic and East Fork Irrigation Company has proposed replacing the last 5.5 miles of the ditch with a pipeline. The cost may be supplemented by a grant from the Bureau of Reclamation's Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program.
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