Nevada would fund the construction of an $80 million reservoir just north of the U.S.-Mexico border in exchange for an additional share of the Colorado River under one option being discussed by Western water managers.
"Call it the most likely option," said Southern Nevada Water Authority chief Pat Mulroy, who discussed the proposal publicly for the first time Friday.
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For the last 2 1/2 years, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has been studying the idea of building a reservoir near the border to store Colorado River water that might otherwise flow into Mexico but not count against that country's river allocation.
The proposed reservoir would be built along the All-American Canal, which delivers Colorado River water to more than 700 square miles of cropland in California's Imperial Valley.
Under an arrangement being discussed by the seven Western states that share the river, Nevada would pay for the project in exchange for some of the water savings it generates.
"This is an important option for Nevada," said Kay Brothers, deputy general manager of the water authority.
Mulroy mentioned the re-servoir project during a presentation to the Legislature's interim Committee on Water Resources, which met in Las Vegas on Friday.
Before that, all she would say is that Nevada could be asked to pay for "efficiency improvements" on the Colorado.
How much water Nevada might get for building the so-called Drop 2 Reservoir, some 250 miles south of Las Vegas, is still being discussed.
According to Jack Simes, spokesman for the Bureau of Reclamation office in Yuma, Ariz., over-deliveries to Mexico can range from 25,000 to 100,000 acre-feet a year, depending on such variables as weather and the timing of water orders from farms in the Imperial Valley.
There are 325,851 gallons in an acre-foot, almost enough water to supply two Las Vegas Valley households for one year.
Though water authority officials have pegged the cost of the 8,000-acre-foot reservoir at $80 million, Simes said no official cost estimates have been announced.
The bureau is still working on a preliminary design for the project, Simes said.
The proposed reservoir could prove controversial south of the border.
Last year, farming interests in Mexicali, Mexico, and conservationists in the United States filed a lawsuit against the bureau and the Department of Interior over plans to rebuild a portion of the All-American Canal to stop water from seeping across the border.
In the lawsuit, Desert Citizens Against Pollution, Citizens United for Resources and the Environment, and Mexicali's economic development council claim farmers and wildlife south of the border have grown to depend on the seepage, which flows into an underground aquifer that is pumped to irrigate crops in the Mexicali Valley.
The case is pending in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.
Mulroy said in exchange for the water that Nevada would gain by building the reservoir or making other efficiency improvements on the river, the water authority has agreed to temporarily suspend its plans to divert water to Las Vegas from the Virgin and Muddy rivers.
Some feared that project would touch off a legal battle among the basin states over the use of tributary water. Mulroy has warned that such a fight could take years and cost millions of dollars.
The reservoir scheme is being discussed as part of interstate talks on how to share shortages and operate the river during lean water years.
Those discussions are expected to culminate Jan. 30, when representatives from the seven Colorado River states convene in Las Vegas to finalize the consensus plan they will deliver to Interior Secretary Gale Norton by next month.
Norton has given the basin states until next month to develop their consensus plan so it can undergo a lengthy federal environmental review.
She intends to announce a new operating scheme for Lake Mead and Lake Powell and shortage criteria for the lower reaches of the Colorado River by the end of 2007.
