Saturday, May 03, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

LAS VEGAS WATER: Feds warn of tapping out supply

Valley among points of concern on Interior Department 'conflict map'

Pumping stations that bring water to the Las Vegas Valley overlook Lake Mead in this photo from on Dec. 13, three days before Interior Secretary Gale Norton spoke at a water conference in Las Vegas and issued a controversial order that halted withdrawals of surplus water from the Colorado River. On Friday she labeled Las Vegas and other areas in the West as probable locations of political and court battles over water in the next few decades. Photo by Jeff Scheid. Click on the image for an enlargement. AP Graphic

WASHINGTON -- The federal government issued a warning to Southern Nevada on Friday, identifying Las Vegas as likely to run low on water by 2025 without efforts to conserve and develop new supplies.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton said she envisioned court battles and political skirmishes involving resources and increasingly restrictive regulations on consumers as the region continues to outpace the availability of water.

"Las Vegas is one of our areas of concern," Norton said.

The forecast came as Norton discussed a new federal emphasis on Western water supply. She said the Interior Department will spend $11 million to work with states to promote conservation and water banking, upgrade pipelines and storage, and research desalination and other technologies to boost supply.

Norton said the government will not discourage continued growth in Las Vegas and other Western cities.

"That's something that needs to be decided at the state and local level. Our emphasis is on planning ahead," she said. "We are taking growth as a given and determining how we move forward."

Las Vegas elected leaders said the federal analysis was no surprise, but they drew a more optimistic picture of the region's water future. They said Southern Nevada authorities are ahead of the curve in seeking additional water supplies by brokering agreements with Arizona and California.

"I'm not concerned about the future of Las Vegas as far as water is concerned because I think we'll be able to buy our solution," said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, a member of the Southern Nevada Water Authority board.

Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy was unavailable for comment Friday night.

Ken Mahal, president of the Nevada Seniors Coalition, said the federal government and the water authority are ignoring the exploding growth straining scarce water resources in a desert.

"We've gotten way ahead of ourselves to keep a sane, organized community with the amount of growth we've allowed to happen here," Mahal said. "I think we're in a headlong crash in this valley that none of these people are willing to face up to."

Democrats were skeptical of Norton's initiative and the amount of money set aside to help the West solve water problems.

"I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out we have major water issues in the U.S. and with the fastest-growing community located in Nevada," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. "Eleven million (dollars) is not adequate to help solve the crisis that is looming."

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., commended the effort. "We've been working on this for a decade," he said. "We consider water liquid gold in the Southwest. I applaud the secretary for giving it attention and recognizing the seriousness of the issue."

Norton issued the Las Vegas warning in the form of a "conflict map" that also singled out Carson City; Reno; Albuquerque, N.M.; Denver; Houston; Salt Lake City; Flagstaff, Ariz.; and the Rio Grande region as other areas headed for water crises.

Her words of caution came as the upper Colorado River region is experiencing another consecutive year of severe drought that has resulted in the lowest water levels in more than 30 years at Lake Mead, whose drinking water supply serves millions of people in the southwestern United States.

On Friday, the lake's surface level was at 1,148 feet of elevation, only three feet above the mark that will trigger a drought alert for water consumers in the Las Vegas Valley and 23 feet above a drought emergency level.

Local water officials have said they expect that the lake will drop to the drought alert stage by the end of this year, resulting in more strict water conservation measures, particularly for golf courses. A citizens committee this summer is expected to recommend what measures will be taken for a drought emergency.

Norton's conflict map was produced by a review of population trends, historic rainfall records, water capacity and storage, and habitats of endangered species, Assistant Interior Secretary Bennett Raley said.

The initiative is the result of an Interior Department study to avoid water crises such as those being experienced in the California-Oregon Klamath Basin, where federal water supplies were cut off in 2001 to protect endangered salmon, said Raley, who is assistant secretary for water and science.

Earlier this year, the government sought to cut off water orders from the Colorado River to the Imperial Irrigation District in California because the state did not sign a deal aimed at reducing its historic over-dependence on the river. A judge halted the department from carrying out the move, and negotiations are ongoing on the matter.

For Las Vegas, the government foresees more water banking like the arrangement the Southern Nevada Water Authority has with Arizona.

Another idea being negotiated among state officials is for Nevada to build a desalination plant on the Pacific Coast and purify water for Californians. That would allow Nevada, in turn, to use some of California's water allotment in Lake Mead.

"I think we've been very proactive in the West trying to realign old thoughts and habits on water allocations and aggressive water conservation," said Ken Albright, resource head at the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Albright said federal investment in desalination is needed to bring the costs down for local communities.

Review-Journal writer Keith Rogers and The Associated Press contributed to this report.