U.S. Water News Online
LAS VEGAS -- An interstate agreement that could help double the local water supply has won the approval of the Southern Nevada Water Authority Board.
The agreement, which is heading toward federal approval by the end of the year, lays out new rules for how shortages on the Colorado River should be shared during long dry spells.
The rules were first proposed by the seven Colorado River states last February and are now under review by the U.S. Department of Interior. The board approved the agreement.
The plan clears the way for southern Nevada to roughly double its water supply through a series of projects and regulatory changes over the next two decades, authority chief Pat Mulroy said.
Under the agreement, the state could collect credits for the rural Nevada groundwater that the authority plans to ship through a $2 billion pipeline to the Las Vegas area and release back into Lake Mead as treated wastewater.
Those credits would allow the water authority to almost double the number of people it can serve with the controversial pipeline project.
The agreement also allows Nevada to receive a greater share of Colorado River water, including permanent access to 75,000 acre-feet a year and a one-time infusion of at least 280,000 acre feet in exchange for building a new reservoir in California near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Also, board members approved a related agreement with Arizona that spells out how much water Nevada will have to give up should a shortage be declared.
If the water level at Lake Mead drops 50 feet from its present elevation of 1,126 feet above sea level, for example, Nevada would see its annual share of the river cut by 13,000 acre feet.
A 100-foot decline at Lake Mead would result in a 20,000 acre-feet cut.
The authority says it would cover such shortages using water reserves it has banked in Arizona and elsewhere. According to recent federal projections, the water level at Lake Mead is expected to remain safely above 1,100 feet through December 2008.
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