Friday, March 18, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

MULTI-SPECIES CONSERVATION PROGRAM: Authority agrees to protect habitat

Agreement provides protection for species that live along Colorado River and future water transfers

The Southern Nevada Water Authority board has signed on to a multistate agreement designed to protect habitat between Lake Mead and the U.S.-Mexico border while ensuring continued use of the river for water and power generation.

The Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program provides protections for at least 26 sensitive plants and animals. At the same time, it allows future water transfers of up to 1.57 million acre-feet among the lower Colorado River Basin states of Nevada, Arizona and California.

The program is expected to cost more than $626 million over its 50-year life span. The federal government will cover half the cost. The other half will be shared by the states, with California supplying 50 percent of the money and Nevada and Arizona each providing 25 percent.

Starting with a $1.4 million payment this year, the water authority will be responsible for almost $54.8 million of Nevada's $78.3 million share over the next 50 years. The remaining $23.5 million will come from the state's Colorado River Commission, Henderson's Black Mountain Industrial Center and the other Colorado River users.

Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy said Nevada's participation will release the authority from having to conduct expensive and time-consuming environmental studies for every new infrastructure project at Lake Mead.

"Most immediately," Mulroy said the agreement "clears the way" for the construction of a third intake to pull Colorado River water from deeper in the lake.

Zane Marshall, senior biologist for the water authority, said the conservation program was 11 years in the making and "represents a new era of cooperation on the Colorado River with approximately 30 stakeholders involved in its development."

With the involvement of so many participants, Mulroy said the process "has been painful," especially when it came to divvying up the costs.

Thursday's vote by the water authority board granted Mulroy the authority to sign the agreement.

Final approval will come April 4, when Interior Secretary Gale Norton adds her signature to the document during a ceremony on the banks of Colorado River, downstream from Hoover Dam.

In a separate vote Thursday, the board authorized water authority officials to pursue the purchase of land along the Colorado for use as riparian habitat. The authority would be able to subtract the cost of such a purchase from its share of the conservation program.

Mulroy said the land in question is in the Laughlin area, but no total acreage or specific parcels have been identified.

Any land acquisition will require board approval.

There are about 326,000 gallons in an acre-foot. The average Las Vegas Valley household uses about 70 percent of an acre-foot of water each year. Nevada's annual share of the Colorado River is 300,000 acre-feet, which accounts for about 90 percent of the valley's drinking water supply.