Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009 | 2 a.m.
In August, Brian Greenspun turns over his Where I Stand column to guest writers. Today’s columnist is Pat Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
To be certain, these are among the most difficult times we as a community and a nation have faced during this generation. While both the local and national economies are beginning to show signs of recovery, a sense of trepidation still lingers, and it will likely be several years before full confidence is restored.
The same holds true in terms of our water supply. The new millennium ushered in daunting challenges and, although the measures we have taken have been successful, our future remains uncomfortably tied to the caprice of nature.
For almost a decade now, an epic drought has been threatening our primary water supply, the Colorado River, which accounts for 90 percent of our water. Lake Mead’s receding shoreline has forced us to realize that even the country’s largest man-made reservoir is not immune to the effects of climate change.
A series of recent scientific studies all lead to the same conclusion: Shortage in the Colorado River is almost inevitable in the decades to come.
Realizing that one of the country’s most reliable systems of dams and reservoirs could dry up, the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Colorado River Commission signed a historic accord in December 2007 to protect all the users in the seven Colorado River Basin states.
For Southern Nevada, this agreement added 80,000 acre feet to our water supplies (an increase of approximately 30 percent), protected our intakes in the lake, and allowed us to store water in other states that we can use during shortages.
Today, we are working with the other states, the U.S. Interior Department, the State Department, and federal officials in Mexico to conserve the river’s water, and to build ocean desalting facilities that can add to the river’s supplies. To assure that all these water supplies are available to Southern Nevada as long as possible, we are constructing a new drinking water intake that will be much deeper beneath the surface of Lake Mead.
As we move forward, building new facilities and working with our neighbors to protect the river’s waters, you, the residents of Southern Nevada, have defied this community’s critics by achieving phenomenal water savings.
Conservation measures that were enacted, including restrictions on the use of grass in new homes and businesses, mandatory watering schedules, and strict water budgets for golf courses, have been spectacularly successful.
The most compelling statistic is that our community consumed nearly 21 billion gallons less water than in 2002, despite the addition of 400,000 residents during that span.
Because of the conservation requirements and new land-use restrictions, new development in Southern Nevada has a very small “water footprint.” And with a new ethic of frugality, we have been transformed from an example of excess to a model for other Southwestern cities.
The stark reality is, however, that all these measures, while they may prolong our ability to use Colorado River water, cannot protect the community if the drought reaches catastrophic levels. Only a new water supply that is completely separate from the Colorado River can ensure the continued existence of our cities.
It is for that reason that the Southern Nevada Water Authority has requested the Nevada State Engineer’s permission to access unused, renewable ground water supplies in the east-central portion of our state. At present, we are simply completing all the necessary permitting and doing all the research needed to be able to use that water without harming the environment or other water users.
While today the Colorado River may still be available to us, we must complete the permitting process so we can be ready to build the needed facilities at a moment’s notice.
All of us at the Southern Nevada Water Authority hope that the time when we have to tap into these ground water supplies is in the distant future. We have been encouraged by improved snowfall in the Rockies, but we have also witnessed enormous evaporation of the snowfall due to dramatically warmer spring seasons and other phenomena.
In order to meet our obligation to ensure a reliable water supply for our community, we have to be prepared for the worst of circumstances. Then and only then will this be home to our children and grandchildren.
Over 60% of water consumption is used to water grass lawns.
We should ban and remove grass before wasting more water reserves.
Ms. Mulroy is a cheerleader for the developer/banker complex that has ruled our valley with an iron fist since the mafia dons whose ruthless tactics seem tame in comparison.
The Water Reed's continue to steam roll the opposition to their plans to provide water to the Coyote Springs development.
Quenching Las Vegas' thirst: Part 5:
'Owens Valley is the model of what to expect'
As Las Vegas policymakers eye the water beneath Nevada, a scientific debate erupts over the possible effects
By Emily Green, Las Vegas Sun
Sunday, June 29, 2008
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jun...
Coyote Springs--A Pipe Dream?
by Desert Survivor
February 23, 2009
The first of 16 golf courses is completed. The Coyote Springs website begins "Coyote Springs is defined by a continuous valley of green." I couldn't quite find what they meant, since this is dry desert with lots of space between the cacti, creosote, and yucca, but perhaps that green is going to be the golf courses--if enough water can be found. There are no streams flowing through the area, no springs, no lakes, no ponds. Water has to be pumped out of the ground and piped here. In a desert area with little precipitation, it certainly raises the question: Is this kind of development sustainable? Or is it destined to become the next ghost town?
http://desertsurvivor.blogspot.com/2009/...
Eureka!!! Water Found...in Snake Valley
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/aug...
Clark, Lincoln and White Pine Counties
Groundwater Development Project
The water conveyed by this project will be used to serve SNWA purveyor members in the Las Vegas Valley and customers of the Lincoln County Water District in Coyote Spring Valley.
http://www.snwa.com/html/system_gdp.html...
Coyote Springs Water Resource District Board of Trustees
http://www.lvvwd.com/smsys/coyote_board....
"Unused water," in Mrs. Mulroy's dictionary, is water that is used by Native Americans, ranches and wildlife, all of which have no place in her vision of a Greater Las Vegas.
The truth of the matter is that Las Vegas still uses much more water per capita than most other SW communites. The cheapest water to be had is from not using water in the first place - conservation, and we still have a very long way to go before we have captured all the opportunities. We might start by asking Mulroy why SNWA cut back on its water waste program, leading to wasted water once again running in the streets.
The central NV groundwater mining pipeline is a boondoggle to the tune of $3billion+ and rising. It would fuel unsustainable development and set the Valley up for an even larger crisis in the not-too-distant future, while bankrupting the user-public now in the process.
It would dry out east central NV, destroying habitat for plants and animals, ruining hunting and fishing opportunities, driving hard working ranchers off their spreads, sending dust storms over Great Basin National Park and parts of Utah, and result in the economic and social ruin of places such as Ely, Pioche and Caliente.
Now is the time for the SNWA Board to say no to the tyrannical dreams and plans of Pat Mulroy and to live up to their responsibilities to the Las Vegas Valley community.
Just ban grass.
If the reservoir is drying up because of drought, won't that same drought eventually reduce the amount of water soaking into the soil (i.e wells will also run dry, just a few years after the reservoir)? Seems to me all we're really doing is buying a little more time -- and failing to address the challenge.
We should end urban sprawl (confine all new construction to within the beltway); ban lawns & golf courses (unless they use gray water); and advocate/support development of desalination plants downriver (to free up river water for our use).
sorry, mulroy, but your self-serving double-talk doesn't resonate with many of us
this is not a long-term solution
i don't see you as a leader; i see you as a cheerleader, for the status quo, which isn't working
Coyote Springs is now going to go wet cooled solar. I think Harvey wants a 600 Megawatt plant which would use 6 acre feet per megawatt. Plus there will be three new natural gas plants along the transmission line planned, one not too far from Coyote Springs. That will also need much water to cool the turbines
Harvey is determined to ruin Nevada: Is a 600 megawatt industrial park That will require 5,000 acres any worse than a housing subdivision? Water would be wasted and habitat would still be destroyed!