Las Vegas could regain river water

Wednesday, July 9, 2003 | 11:24 a.m.

Las Vegas could regain access to billions of gallons of Lake Mead water cut off in January by the U.S. Interior Department under a proposal presented today by Southern Nevada water officials.

Representatives from the Colorado River Commission of Nevada and the Southern Nevada Water Authority pushed the proposal affecting so-called "interim surplus" water while meeting with Interior Department officials, including Assistant Secretary Bennett Raley, at a meeting today.

The meeting at the MGM Grand brings together regional and national water agencies in a summit dubbed Water 2025. The Interior Department is holding the summit in an effort to avoid what it has called likely conflicts over water in the West over the next two decades.

The proposal presented by, among others, Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy would separate the legal status of Nevada from California.

An ongoing legal and political battle among water users in California instigated the crisis, and Nevada lost access to the water as a side effect to the California storm.

Officials from Nevada have watched, more of less helplessly, as talks to straighten out the problem in California have been unsuccessful.

"We negotiated in good faith," Mulroy said today. "We've honored our commitments and patiently waited for a resolution. We don't think the impasse in California should continue to impact Nevada."

The push is not unexpected. Resumption of the surplus guidelines would allow Southern Nevada to take more than its basic allotment of 300,000 acre-feet a year from Lake Mead. One acre-foot is enough water for a typical family for one year.

Last year, the Southern Nevada Water Authority took about 30,000 acre-feet above the minimal allotment. This year it had planned to take closer to 40,000 acre-feet before Interior cut off the surplus, which is actually unused allotments from states in the Colorado River's upper basin, including Colorado, Wyoming and Utah.

The water authority, the wholesaler for municipal systems in Clark County, lost access to the surplus on Jan. 1 after talks to reconcile use priorities by water agencies in neighboring California collapsed. Interior Secretary Gale Norton said then that she had no choice but to cut off access to the surplus.

The surplus was to play a critical role in extending Las Vegas' water future to 2015, when large-scale projects to augment local water supplies would, in theory, come on line.

"Reinstatement of the Interim Surplus Guidelines for Nevada is the linchpin for us to proceed in the orderly development of our long-term water resource plan," said Colorado River Commission Chairman Richard Bunker. The commission is the state agency that represents Nevada's interests in the Colorado River in talks with federal agencies.

"Our needs remain small," Bunker said. "The interim surplus we seek is not much water in the great scheme of things. However, it's a vital bridge that Nevada needs to develop its resources."

The collapse of negotiations in California, however, upset the applecart. Like dominoes, the failure of California's water agencies to ratify an agreement required the federal Interior Department to cut off all use of the surplus for both California, which has used 800,000 acre-feet over its basic yearly allotment, and Nevada.

Water officials from Nevada have complained bitterly about the Silver State's pairing with California. Interior officials have until now said they were considering a legal mechanism to separate the two states so that Nevada, at least, could resume taking more water from Lake Mead. However, the federal officials have said that they have not found the legal justification for the move.

Interior officials were not immediately available for comment.

Even if the federal agency reopened access to the extra water for Southern Nevada, Mother Nature could soon reverse the benefit. Four years of drought in the Rocky Mountains have dropped water levels in Lake Mead to lows not seen in decades, and under the Interim Surplus Guidelines in place, the federal agency would have to first limit, then eliminate, access to the surplus to conserve water in the reservoir.

The first hit from natural causes is expected in January, when access to any surplus water -- if the existing legal tussle is resolved -- would be limited to about 15,000 acre-feet for Nevada next year.