Water deal to save supply, money

Tuesday, July 3, 2001 | 10:48 a.m.

Two pacts were due to be signed today that will save water and money for Las Vegas Valley residents.

The first agreement allows Nevada to store up to 1.2 million acre-feet of water underground in Arizona. Like a savings account in a bank, it will allow Southern Nevada to draw more water from Lake Mead when supplies are low on the Colorado River.

The second transfers ownership of Southern Nevada's original water delivery system from the federal Bureau of Reclamation to the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

"With the stroke of a pen, Nevada has been transformed from a state whose water resource future was unclear to one whose future has never been brighter," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said today. He was to sign the storage contract as a federal representative with water authority Chairwoman Mary Kincaid-Chauncey.

The Arizona contract should keep Southern Nevada's water flowing without conservation by customers, but the continued flow will come at a price, General Manager Pat Mulroy said.

The water authority is paying up to $170 million for the Arizona storage with bond money, but if people use too much water, they will pay for it, Mulroy said. Conservation is a necessity, she said. "The days of free water are coming to an end," she said.

In addition, an extended drought could still leave Las Vegas with a shortage, Mulroy said.

Discussions between Nevada and Arizona water officials to set up the groundwater bank began in 1994. Arizona created the banking program in 1996 and Southern Nevada will pay the neighboring state to save surplus water there until 2050.

However, the transfer of ownership of the distribution system will save Southern Nevada ratepayers $13 million, and allow water authority officials to operate the delivery system more efficiently.

President Lyndon Johnson signed the legislation that brought Robert B. Griffith water project into existence on Oct. 22, 1965. The project was named after community leader Griffith, because he persuaded government officials to build a water line from Lake Mead to the Las Vegas Vegas Valley.

Over the decades, local water officials maintained the system, with the permission of the federal Bureau of Reclamation.

With the water authority in charge of the entire federal system, replacing a pipe or a valve can be done overnight, Mulroy said.