Nevada, others get full water shares

Monday, March 22, 2004 | 11:05 a.m.

Despite ongoing drought along the Colorado River, Nevada, California and Arizona received full annual water shares -- and Nevada received limited additional water, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said.

Norton signed the 2004 annual operating plan for the Colorado River on Friday in Washington.

To date only Nevada has requested surplus water from the river, Norton said.

Nevada, California and Arizona are entitled to receive limited amounts of water from Lake Mead above their basic Colorado River shares.

Southern Nevada Water Authority spokesman Vince Alberta said the state received a partial surplus after requesting an additional 34,000 acre-feet from the river above an annual allocation of 300,000 acre-feet.

Interior officials gave Nevada half of its surplus request, Alberta said. Lake Mead is at an elevation of 1,139 1/2 feet, the lowest it has been in 30 years, he said.

In previous years the water authority has received full amounts of surplus, usually about 30,000 acre-feet. However, the falling lake levels have cut the availability of the surplus.

The annual 300,000 acre-feet is the amount of river water Nevada is entitled to under the law of the river, effective on the Colorado since 1922.

An acre-foot of water serves an average family for a year.

With the ongoing drought Southern Nevada residents must continue to conserve water use, Alberta said. Last year the water authority delivered 272,000 acre-feet to area residents. "We'd like to keep it below 300,000 acre-feet this year, if we can," Alberta said.

Water that isn't used by Southern Nevada's home and businesses will be pumped into the ground, "banked" against future needs. The water authority already has about 240,000 acre-feet banked here and in Arizona.

California and Arizona will receive their full allotments of river water in 2004. California is entitled to 4.4 million acre-feet and Arizona to 2.8 million acre-feet.

Winter has not brought even an average amount of snow to the Rocky Mountains, the source for the Colorado River and ultimately, Lake Mead, which supplies about 90 percent of Clark County's drinking water.

Interior officials predict that the runoff will probably be about 77 percent of average.

Bob Walsh, spokesman for the federal Bureau of Reclamation, warned that if the drought continues, and water levels in Lake Mead continue to fall, the surplus granted Nevada might be cut again.

"It will depend on what the lake level is next year and the water supply situation," Walsh said.

The bureau, which serves as rivermaster for the Interior Department, has forecast that the lake level, now at about 1,140 feet above sea level, could fall to 1,127 feet by January. If it falls below 1,125 feet, the federal agencies would eliminate access to the surplus the following January.

"That's why it is very important for us to be diligent about our water use and water conservation," Alberta said. "If this drought continues, things are going to get tighter."