Wednesday, December 18, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

WATER CONFERENCE: California's decisions to affect Nevada's

Interior Secretary Norton sticking to her conservation plan

Water officials from seven Western states wrapped up their annual conference Tuesday with little hope that California agencies can reverse a federal order to halt surplus withdrawals from the Colorado River.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton signed an order Monday that would prevent Nevada and California from continuing to take more than their annual allocation from the river. Southern California agencies must agree to a 15-year plan to gradually reduce that state's dependence on surplus water to rescind the order.

Assistant Interior Secretary Bennett Raley said nothing had changed Tuesday to keep Norton's order from taking effect Jan. 1. Those California agencies face a Dec. 31 deadline to adopt the agreement.

The reluctance of California's Imperial Irrigation District to endorse the plan means Southern Nevada, without a special arrangement with the Interior Department, will be forced to stop taking an extra 30,000 acre-feet of water above its annual 300,000 acre-feet apportionment.

That will bring strict conservation measures next year and water rates for heavy water users in Southern Nevada. The measures will be even stricter than what local water officials had considered for dealing with the ongoing drought along the tributaries that feed the upper Colorado River and, ultimately, Lake Mead, where Southern Nevada taps the river system.

Likewise, California would be shut off from withdrawing more than the 4.4 million acre-feet it is allotted. For decades, Southern California water districts have used as much as 800,000 acre-feet to more than 1 million acre-feet in surplus withdrawals.

An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, roughly enough to serve the needs of an average Las Vegas Valley family of five for one year.

In a panel discussion at Tuesday's meeting of the Colorado River Users Association, Andy Horne, one of the three Imperial Irrigation District directors who voted against the settlement agreement, said the Western United States is experiencing the worst drought in recorded history on the upper Colorado River "and I think it is time we all start acting like it."

At issue, he said, is the Imperial Irrigation District's obligation to preserving the Salton Sea so it doesn't become too salty to support fish, migratory birds and endangered species.

"I think the Salton Sea is like the proverbial 800-pound gorilla. ... Well, the gorilla has stood up and is looking for something to eat," he said.

Horne said one of the stumbling blocks in the way of a settlement agreement is the current plan would have the Imperial Irrigation District pay to send 1 million acre-feet over the next 15 years into the 35-mile-long Salton Sea to keep salinity in check. He said the Salton Sea loses about 1.2 million acre-feet per year through evaporation.

Another issue, he said, is about $100 million is needed to cover liability concerns for endangered species mitigation. The money would have to be spent to protect habitat elsewhere to offset the loss of habitat along drainage areas in the agricultural district where burrowing owls and desert pupfish live.

Another panelist, Tom Levy, general manager of California's Coachella Valley Water District, said the Salton Sea "is a difficult problem (but) it is solvable. It only takes one thing: a few billion dollars."

The Imperial Irrigation District currently receives more than 3 million acre-feet annually from the Colorado River, some of which it could sell at a steep price to urban water agencies in Southern California, particularly the San Diego County Water District.

The drought has reduced Colorado River flows to 25 percent of its average over 30 years. This year, runoff into the Colorado River basin, primarily from snowmelt, is about 7 million acre-feet. But the Western states' demands for Colorado River water resulted in 15 1/2 million acre-feet in total withdrawals. To meet those demands, storage was reduced in Lake Mead and other basin reservoirs by more than 8.5 million acre-feet.