Friday, August 20, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

COLORADO RIVER: Drought may alter accord

Plan to protect Lake Powell would reduce Lake Mead's share of water

Click image for enlargement. Click image for enlargement. A fishing dock hangs over dry rocks, several hundred yards away from the Lake Mead Marina. A plan under consideration by the seven states that share the Colorado River could further shrink Lake Mead, which record drought has dropped to its lowest level in 40 years. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

The seven states that share the Colorado River are considering a plan to protect Lake Powell by reducing the amount of water that is allowed to flow downstream to Lake Mead, the top Nevada water official said Thursday.

The proposal, which Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy said has never before been seriously discussed, could cause Lake Mead to shrink even faster than it is.

Under the plan, which could be implemented if the drought persists through the winter, 7.8 million acre-feet of water would be released from Lake Powell instead of the 8.23 million acre-feet required under existing water policy, Mulroy said.

The purpose of withholding the water would be to keep Lake Powell from shrinking further and jeopardizing power generation at Glen Canyon Dam.

It also could prevent a "call on the river," under which drought-stricken water users in the upper basin would be required to give up more water so the 8.23 million acre-foot requirement can be met.

Mulroy said the plan was floated by representatives from the upper Colorado River Basin states of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming.

"The upper basin basically catapulted it onto the table, and I don't blame them," Mulroy said. "Two more years of less than 50 percent runoff, and Powell's a dead pool. There's nothing there. That's how close we are."

Don Oster, executive director for the Upper Colorado River Commission, indicated that reducing the flow from Powell is one possible scenario. But the upper basin's main proposal involves reviewing the operating plan for the river every six months instead of once a year during the drought.

"We have to understand what will happen if various drought situations continue, and pick a management scheme that is most protective," Oster said. "To us, the business-as-usual approach is not going to work anymore."

Five years of well-below normal snowfall along the western slope of the Rocky Mountains has reduced Lake Powell to 40 percent of its capacity. As a result, the power generation capacity of Glen Canyon Dam has fallen to 60 percent of full capacity.

If the lake level falls another 85 feet, the generators will be forced to shutdown completely, eliminating a major source of cheap power. That could create supply and financial problems for utilities and their customers, and not just in the upper basin.

Ely-based Mt. Wheeler Power is a member-owned electrical cooperative that serves about 4,000 customers over a 16,000 square mile service territory, including all of White Pine County and portions of six other counties in Nevada and Utah. Mt. Wheeler gets about half of its electricity from Glen Canyon Dam.

Kevin Robison, member services and marketing manager for the utility, said losing that source of power would force the cooperative to purchase electricity from another source at twice the cost. That would prompt the first rate increase for customers in 11 years, he said.

"It would be pretty significant. Obviously, hydropower is one of the least expensive power sources there is," Robison said.

Generating capacity also is down at Hoover Dam, though not as much. Bob Walsh, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, said the dam's potential output is down about 14 percent.

Mulroy said she expects some sort of agreement before the end of the year on what water levels should be protected at the two reservoirs.

So long as the level for Lake Mead does not jeopardize the water authority intake pipes that supply water to the Las Vegas Valley, she supports protecting Powell.

"I don't have a problem helping the upper basin," Mulroy said. "If we want help from others, we have to be willing to help others. It's all about diplomacy."

That word has not always applied to Western water management, which has long been marked by bitter political fights, lawsuits and occasional threats of state-on-state warfare.

Mulroy said she is encouraged by the air of cooperation she has encountered at recent basin states meetings. Everyone seems to understand that water policy needs to be "flexible and adaptable" as the drought persists, she said.

Reclamation officials declined to speculate on how much of an impact the upper basin proposal could have on Lake Mead, citing the speculative nature of the proposal itself.

It is fair to say, however, that reducing the amount of water released from Lake Powell would cause Lake Mead to shrink, assuming there is no change in the amount of water released through Hoover Dam for delivery to Arizona, California and Mexico.

"It's simple mathematics," said Walsh, the Bureau of Reclamation spokesman.

Excluding surplus water that is available in some years, Arizona takes 2.8 million acre-feet of water from Colorado River a year, while California gets 4.4 million acre-feet and Mexico gets 1.5 million acre-feet.

Nevada's annual allotment of Colorado River water is 300,000 acre-feet, from which the Las Vegas Valley draws 90 percent of all the water it consumes.

An acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons. The average household in the Las Vegas Valley is said to consume about 230,000 gallons of water per year.

A more rapid drop in the water level at Lake Mead could make things even more difficult for National Park Service personnel, who are already struggling to keep up with the impacts of falling water at the nation's fifth most visited park site.

Every 20-foot drop in lake elevation costs the park service up to $6 million for maintenance and infrastructure, said Roxanne Dey, spokeswoman for Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

That figure does not include what it costs park concessionaires to keep their businesses running at the lake.

A continued drop in the water level could require boat launch ramps to be extended and marinas to be reconfigured or moved to deeper water, Dey said. "It really depends on the elevation. Some of our ramps extend further than others."

Already, the drought has caused the water level at Lake Mead to drop more than 87 feet from near-capacity levels in 1998.

Based on current climate conditions and water policy, the Bureau of Reclamation projects the level will fall another 23 feet by summer 2006.

Water policymakers from the seven basin states last met in July in Salt Lake City. Their next meeting has not been set, but it is expected to take place in September or October.