Plan would guarantee more water for valley

Friday, Dec. 3, 2004 | 11:23 a.m.

Southern Nevada would have guaranteed access to 1.25 million acre-feet of water from Arizona under a plan endorsed Thursday by the Central Arizona Project, the state's largest water wholesaler.

The plan would cost Southern Nevada $330 million and a pledge of support for Arizona's efforts to win priority status for Colorado River water that goes to Phoenix and Tucson through the CAP canal.

The 1.25 million acre-feet represent nearly three years' worth of water for the Las Vegas area, though it would be delivered over about three decades.

The annual deliveries would represent guaranteed access to about 10 percent more than Southern Nevada now uses each year.

Kay Brothers, Southern Nevada Water Authority deputy general manager, said the plan still needs to be approved by several agencies, but said the value of the deal is that if, as feared, drought conditions force a reduction in the allocation to all lower-basin states on the Colorado River, Nevada would receive enough water to make up the difference in the cut by the federal government.

In 2007, Nevada would be able to take 20,000 acre-feet annually. By 2009, the amount would go up to 30,000 acre-feet, and by 2011 it would go to 40,000 acre-feet annually until Nevada reaches the 1.25 million acre-feet level or the year 2060, whichever comes first, Brothers said.

An acre-foot of water is 325,851 gallons, enough to supply one or two households for a year.

The amount Nevada takes from Arizona would be reduced if, because of shortages along the Colorado River, Arizona's cities are forced to reduce water consumption, she said. Although the amount to be received from Arizona might be reduced, Brothers said it would still be more than what Nevada would receive absent the deal.

The 1.25 million acre-feet promised in the proposed deal is an extension of an earlier pact between Nevada and Arizona from 2001. Under that deal, in which Nevada also agreed to "bank" or store water underground in return for water deliveries later, Arizona officials promised to "use their best efforts" to give us the same water deliveries outlined in the new deal.

The difference is that with the new agreement, "this is an assured water supply," Brothers said.

She said the $330 million would come from regional connection charges that pay for other water authority capital expenses. Nevada will pay $100 million in 2005 and then 10 installments of $23 million beginning in 2009.

Much of the money would be used to pay the costs of storing and recovering water in the state's underground water banks, but up to $100 million could also go toward protection of riparian areas along Arizona rivers and streams.

Arizona also receives a pledge of support for its efforts to persuade California and other Colorado River states to rewrite an old deal that left the CAP supply vulnerable to water shortages on the river.

Pat Mulroy, water authority general manager, told the CAP board that the Las Vegas area needed to secure a water source until it could develop new in-state supplies that won't be available for several years.

Brothers said the agencies that need to approve the deal in Nevada include the water authority board, the Clark County Commission serving as the board of the Las Vegas Valley Water Authority, and the cities of Henderson and North Las Vegas.

The water authority board should consider the issue Dec. 9. The county and city boards would have the issue early next year, Brothers said.

The Arizona Water Banking Authority, with which the Southern Nevada agency has had an agreement since 2001 to bank and deliver water, also needs to approve the pact next week.