Nevada senators praise water saving efforts

Friday, May 28, 2004 | 11:17 a.m.

U.S. Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., praised Las Vegas Valley's conservation efforts this morning in a meeting with Southern Nevada Water Authority officials and other regional leaders but said the state still needs to do more to develop its internal resources.

"Something has to give unless we do a better job," Ensign said.

Reid, Ensign and Assistant Secretary of the Interior Bennett Raley said the West would pull through what is currently the worst drought on record.

The senators and Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy promoted three strategies for overcoming the drought: better management of all water use, brokering relationships with other Colorado Basin states to better share resources and developing in-state water sources such as the Muddy and Virgin rivers in Lincoln County.

Mulroy said Southern Nevada needs to reduce its dependence on the Colorado River in order to sustain itself. In the 1950s, Mulroy said, Las Vegas relied 100 percent on its own groundwater. Today the Las Vegas Valley uses 90 percent Colorado River water and only 10 percent of its own groundwater.

Mulroy said she wants to see the region move toward drawing 60 percent of its water from the Colorado River and 40 percent from its own resources.

In June, Mulroy will be working with other regional leaders to appoint a 29-member committee to develop strategies for improving in-state resources.

Ensign and Reid said they would do whatever they could on the federal level to gain both financial support for development of Nevada's water resources, as well as working with other states to find solutions.

This morning's meeting was held at the city of Henderson's water treatment plant near the edge of Lake Mead.