Rain greets conference on river, drought

Friday, Dec. 12, 2003 | 8:58 a.m.

Hundreds of government officials from dozens of federal, state and local agencies throughout the West weathered the Las Vegas rain Thursday to look at the present and future of the Colorado River.

The annual meeting of the Colorado River Water Users Association, which continues today, focused on the thorny political, legal, environmental and engineering problems associated with delivering the river to slake the thirst of 25 million people in the region.

Over the ongoing -- and in many cases decadeslong -- issues affecting the river, which supplies 90 percent of Las Vegas' drinking water, hung the issue of more than four years of persistent drought. The drought has led to new rules governing conservation in Southern Nevada and elsewhere, and threatens much of the system if it continues.

The drought is just one more reason why all of the agencies from seven states, the federal government and tribal agencies have to cooperate, Henderson City Councilwoman and Southern Nevada Water Authority Board Chairwoman Amanda Cyphers told about 1,000 people at the conference at Caesars Palace.

"Managing the Colorado River has always been a challenge, but never more so than now," she said. "Our greatest challenges are still ahead."

Cyphers told the crowd that Southern Nevada "has taken the drought very seriously."

Support from the six other states and the federal government could be important if Southern Nevada is forced to go out of state to buy water, a potentially expensive prospect that is becoming more likely as Lake Mead water levels drop because of the drought, the worst on record for the river.

Gerald Galloway, a civil engineer with extensive experience in mitigating water disputes within the United States and between nations, told the conference that the pains along the Colorado are only part of a "national water crisis."

Water has become the source of conflict nationwide, he said, as population growth, development patterns, climate change and scarcity collide.

"When we run out of it, people rapidly appreciate the value of it," Galloway said.

He noted that the United States has experienced at least a dozen droughts that have cost $1 billion or more in damage since 1980.

Ken Albright, Southern Nevada Water Authority resource director, said the value of the conference is learning how other agencies are dealing with the challenges they face in delivering river water to their customers.

"It's relationship building and information sharing," he said.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton, by law the river master, or final authority, on many river issues, was scheduled to speak Thursday night. Mechanical problems grounded her plane in Dallas, however, and her talk was scratched. Assistant Interior Secretary Bennett Raley was scheduled to speak to the conference participants today.

Also on tap today was a meteorologist from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. The weather expert was scheduled to speak on the drought and the long-term forecast for the Rocky Mountains, where winter snows provide the source of the river.