Las Vegas Sun

November 30, 2009

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Letter: Plan to get rural water unneeded

Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004 | 9:03 a.m.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority should promptly terminate all plans to build about 1,000 miles of pipeline to draw water from rural counties.

There are several reasons for this.

The water authority just obtained new water from Arizona that will increase Nevada's annual share of Colorado River water by about 10 percent. This water will be able to be drawn until the year 2060.

The water authority has only been using 90 percent of its Lake Mead allocation.

The water authority has already stored a large supply of water in aquifers.

The water authority could easily increase our water supply by 20 percent by improved water conservation.

The construction of the water authority's pipelines will probably cost $10 billion to $15 billion. Meanwhile, Nevada's current annual budget is a mere $3 billion.

MARK BIRD Editor's note: Mark Bird, who teaches sociology at the Community College of Southern Nevada, has authored more than 30 articles in various newspapers and trade magazines on the subject of water planning.

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