The adequacy of our water supply here in Las Vegas is conditioned by official decisions about what to do with Nevada’s public lands. More than 85 percent of our water comes from the Colorado River (Lake Mead), and increased demand for it is directly related to the sale of these lands. This is so because, as they are offered to developers, more and more water must be found for the houses, hotels, and schools those developers construct.
Our allocation from the Colorado is 300,000 acre feet per year. A football field is a little bit less than an acre in size so just imagine a gridiron covered in water to a depth of one foot. We get 300,000 of these per year. That’s it for 1.5 million people. We’re already pumping all the football fields of water to which we’re legally entitled, and growth resulting from the public land sales is further taxing our supplies.
What are state and local decision makers doing to stretch and then increase our existing supplies? Here’s a quick look at several options they are pursuing.
Water Banking — This works a lot like the savings you put in your own bank. Through the Southern Nevada Groundwater Bank, we store river water in the ground right here in the Las Vegas Valley. The Arizona Water Bank has agreed to set aside 1.25 million acre feet for us over the next 35 years, at a cost of $330 million. A third account is a virtual water bank in California. We earn credits in this bank by allowing our occasional surpluses of water to flow past Hoover Dam for use by the Golden State. They get some of our water today and our account gets credited. This transaction entitles us, at some future date, to an identical amount of their water as it flows past our door (Lake Mead).
New Construction — Planning is well under way for the importation of a quarter million acre feet of water from northern Nevada. If approved, the water will be pumped from deep aquifers in Lincoln and White Pine counties and then sent south through some 400 miles of pipeline. Another project on the table involves the construction of a dam and reservoir near the Mexican border. It would save water at that end and credit a like amount for our use here.
Desalination — Plans are also being considered to have Las Vegas pay for the construction of a seawater desalination plant in Southern California. This would be both a construction project and a crediting operation. The plan: If and when potable water flows from such a plant, we would take a like amount from California’s share of Lake Mead. It’s thus an approach based on substitution: We take something that belongs to them (Colorado River water) and provide something else to them in return (desalinated seawater). However, this idea faces considerable opposition.
Conservation and Increased Efficiency — Fortunately, plans for finding more and more water also include attention to using less and less; that is, to conservation. A few of the things going on here: The county has revamped its building codes to require water-wise construction. The Southern Nevada Water Authority pays property owners to remove water-gulping sod and replace it with xeriscaping. Restrictions on golf courses and man-made lakes have also been put into effect.
Still, no matter how many options there are, we have a long way to go given our unsustainable policy of converting the public lands in our valley from open space to new sources of urban/suburban water demand.
