Water plan will serve Las Vegas until 2035

Friday, Jan. 16, 1998 | 3:01 a.m.

The plan to bank up to 1.2 million acre-feet of water, four times Nevada's current allocation from the Colorado River, would be enough to feed development well into the 21st century, said Pat Mulroy, the Southern Nevada water Authority's general manager.

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt announced last month that he would approve the arrangement between the states when the government's regulatory process runs its course, most likely in the summer.

"There might be some opposition initially, but even if (the process) is slowed down, in the end we'll prevail because it makes the most sense," Mulroy said.

The proposal would allow Nevada to help pay to store Arizona's unused allocation of the Colorado River, enabling it in return to draw equal amounts from Lake Mead.

Currently, Southern Nevada has adequate water resources to serve a population of 1.8 million until the year 2007, officials said.

The water authority continues to store water underground, hoping to stash some 460,000 acre-feet by 2007, Mulroy said.

In addition to getting new water supplies, Mulroy said the authority met its goal of 13 percent conservation, something it wants to increase to 25 percent by 2010. Some 85,000 homeowners, she said, have installed water-saving devices in their homes.

In her annual "state of the water" presentation to the authority, Mulroy said a cost of building a massive delivery system from Lake Mead to Las Vegas has shrunk by $106 million. Several cost estimates have been reduced since the $2 billion project was approved.

Mulroy also said the second phase of a cleanup of perchlorate - a rocket fuel ingredient - should be finished by May in the Las Vegas Wash.