EDITORIAL: Things looking up — at least temporarily — on Colorado River

Last week brought some good news regarding Clark County’s water supply.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation projected that, thanks to heavy snow in the Rockies, Lake Mead’s water levels will remain high enough through 2019 to avoid a federal shortage declaration. Such a step could force cuts in Nevada’s annual Colorado River allocation of 300,000 acre-feet.

For perspective, one acre-foot of water will cover usage at two typical Las Vegas homes for about a year.

The Review-Journal’s Henry Brean reported that the Colorado River carried 14 percent more water than usual this year. In addition, consumption in the lower basin has fallen significantly. For the first time in 25 years, Nevada, Arizona and California combined last year to use fewer than 7 million acre-feet of river water. Given the region’s population increase over the past quarter-century, the number reflects a remarkable reduction in per-capita water usage.

Credit conservation efforts along with more efficient agricultural practices. Remember that the vast majority of water drawn from the river is diverted for farming, not urban or residential use.

Also last week, the Southern Nevada Water Authority approved a plan to help Mexico make improvements to its water systems in return for more Colorado River water. The program will cost taxpayers $7.5 million over the next decade, but the authority will receive access to 54,000 additional acre-feet of river water.

While paying for Mexico to help line aquifers or curb runoff may strike some as odd, the deal is part of an international treaty and should pay long-term dividends by staving off potential legal conflicts during times of shortage or surplus. The authority already has banked about 1.8 million acre-feet of water for future use, and the Mexico pact could further help officials better manage the local water supply.

Not all the news on the water front is good, however. Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt earlier this month joined a nine-state appeal of a federal court ruling that could jeopardize long recognized water rights on government lands, particularly in rural Nevada.

The case involved the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in California’s Coachella Valley. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held earlier this year that federally reserved water rights held by the tribe preempt state water rights.

As Thomas Mitchell wrote last week in the Elko Daily Free Press, “Compounding the problem created by the 9th Circuit water usurpation is the fact that in Nevada, as in other Western states, many of the groundwater aquifers are already fully appropriated and have been for nearly 100 years. Any new claim for water under federal land would result in an overallocation, possibly requiring the relinquishing of long-held water rights used by ranches, farms, manufacturing, mining and communities — in some cases depriving families of their livelihoods.”

The decision also has ramifications for the water authority’s efforts to import water to Las Vegas from rural areas.

In July, two Southern California water agencies filed petitions appealing the 9th Circuit decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. While the justices accept only a tiny percentage of such petitions, let’s hope they accept this case in recognition of the significance of this issue for thousands of people living and working across the rural West.