Park Service looks at new plans as Mead level drops

Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2005 | 9:30 a.m.

Years of drought and falling water levels in Lake Mead are pushing the National Park Service to update its management plans for the lake.

The Park Service last updated its management plan for the lake in 2003, but that plan and earlier plans "did not foresee the current and predicted drought conditions and did not fully consider the effects of greater fluctuations in the lake's water levels," the agency said in a news release.

The level of Lake Mead is now about 1,138 feet above sea level, down from 1,220 feet four years ago. The lake is about 60 percent full, while Lake Powell, the upstream reservoir that fills Lake Mead, is below half full. Between the two reservoirs, the Colorado River system is half full.

Or half empty, depending on one's point of view.

While the National Park Service has spent millions relocating boat docks and ramps and moving whole marinas, Las Vegas area water-system officials are concerned that falling water levels could affect their ability to bring water up from the lake to consumers in the urban area.

Vince Alberta, a spokesman with the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said the Park Service's effort to maintain public access to marinas and boat ramps has not, and probably will not, have an adverse effect on the water system.

"That really won't have any impact on our facilities out there," Alberta said.

The Water Authority has had to spend millions in contending with the falling water levels. Engineers with the agency are now planning a $650 million third intake to bring water from deeper in the lake.

The drought actually eased somewhat over the last year, with wintertime snow melts contributing 111 percent of the "normal" flow, but those monitoring river conditions project that lake levels will drop to 1,125 feet next year and 1,120 feet in 2007 even if that normal, or average, flow continues.

A return to drought conditions would make lake levels drop even faster.

"It is completely drought-related," said Jim Holland, National Park Service planner. "The objective is to maintain public access as it is now. It is going to be challenged as the lake continues to drop."

If the lake drops to 1,050 feet, power and water production could be disrupted. Holland said at that level, the Park Service plans under its "preferred alternative" would call for spending $40 million to maintain public access to the lake.

"There are large costs associated with this," he said. "The plan is basically we're going to follow the water out wherever we can. Where the topography of the lake doesn't allow us to do that, what we're going to do is make minor modifications to allow those existing areas to operate."

The Park Service, in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, is producing an environmental assessment of the plans it has to respond to the drought. The assessment includes a range of alternatives for the agency.

Information on the alternatives and potential effects are available on the agency's Lake Mead Web site, nps.gov/lame/docs.html. The document is also available for public review at area libraries, and copies of the document may be requested in writing or by calling 293-8956.

The 30-day public review period for the environmental assessment will end Oct. 31 and all comments must be received by that date.