Friday, Nov. 29, 2002 | 11:11 a.m.
Lake Mead, already at near-record lows due to three years of drought, could drop an additional 16 to 20 inches because of water drawdowns authorized this week by the U.S. Interior Department.
The taking of 260,000 acre-feet for California agriculture -- about 10 percent more than the area regularly receives -- would bring the lake closer to 1,145 feet above sea level, the point where the federal Bureau of Reclamation would, by law, have to cut water use.
Local water officials are already preparing a plan to deal with cuts they expect to come in 2004. Federal and local officials said they do not expect the additional drawdown for California's agricultural use to accelerate the need for water restrictions.
One acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, or about enough water for one family for a year.
Officials with the Imperial Irrigation District, which takes the lion's share of water for agricultural purposes from Lake Mead, said the additional water could be critically important over the next six weeks to meet the nation's demand for fresh winter vegetables.
"We are the nation's winter salad bowl," district spokeswoman Susan Giller said. "There are times in the winter where virtually the only lettuce produced in the country comes from the Imperial Valley."
Other winter crops from California include carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, onions and other vegetables and fruits. But while the nation depends on the region's vegetables, the desert Southwest depends on Lake Mead's water.
The lake now sits at about 1,155 feet, and has been dropping about one foot a month. The amount authorized for the California farmers by Interior Secretary Gale Norton equals about as much water as Las Vegas' basic allotment from the lake.
Bob Walsh, Bureau of Reclamation spokesman, said the earliest Las Vegas could be impacted by a water-use reduction would be 2004, if the lake drops below 1,145 feet next year. The bureau predicts that the water level will drop below 1,138 feet by the end of November 2003.
If the water level is between 1,145 and 1,125 feet by the end of next year, Southern Nevada would lose half of what is called "surplus" water, unused by states in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The total lost in this case would be 15,000 acre-feet per year, enough water for about the same number of households.
If the water level drops below 1,125 feet, Southern Nevada would lose the full amount of the surplus -- 30,000 acre-feet, or about 10 percent of what the region uses from the lake annually.
Norton authorized the extra drawdown because of extreme drought conditions in California's agricultural areas, including the inland Imperial Irrigation District.
Walsh said California's extra water for farming would not be a major factor in the steady drop of the lake's water levels.
"In terms of that, what is going to happen to the lake over the next 18 months, that amount of water won't even be noticed," he said.
Under the terms of river law known as the Interim Surplus Guidelines, the farmers will have to pay back the extra water by cutting consumption over the next four years.
Southern Nevada Water Authority Deputy General Manager Kay Brothers said the authorization for the additional water use was not a surprise.
"The interim surplus allows for overruns, but they have to pay them back," Brothers said, referring to the farm districts. "In defense of California's farmers, we have had extreme drought in the past year. They haven't had rain, and they've had really dry, hot conditions."
The California farm districts insist dry conditions left them no choice. Other Western leaders say the districts are trying to wring extra water from the river before California agrees to stricter limits in December.
Southern Nevada, Arizona and the other five states that use the river told Norton they expect the farm districts to repay the water debt. In a letter to California Gov. Gray Davis, Norton imposed that condition and said if the farmers reneged, they would get no future help.
California must prove by Dec. 31 that it has a plan to reduce its overuse of the Colorado River or face the loss of as much as 900,000 acre-feet of water next year, about what metropolitan Los Angeles uses annually.
The plan, known as the Quantification Settlement Agreement or QSA, would disallow the drawdown of surplus water for agricultural purposes such as that approved by Norton this week.
The agreement, under negotiations for years, must be signed by the end of December or both California and Nevada will face the potential loss of any surplus water.
Norton, under federal law the "rivermaster" of the Colorado River basin, has warned that she will cut the water use if the deal is not in place.
California authorities said last month that negotiations had been successfully concluded that allow both urban and agricultural water use, but with gradual reductions in the amount of water taken from Lake Mead.
Within 15 years, California's water use is supposed to be down to 4.4 million acre-feet per year. The state uses roughly 5.1 million acre-feet per year.
Giller, with the Imperial Irrigation District, said additional allocation authorized by Norton makes the job of the district -- and the district's thousands of farmers -- tougher.
On top of the cap imposed by the settlement agreement, the district will have to reduce water use to pay back for this year's extra amount.
"We have some substantial challenges ahead of us," Giller said.
archive
