Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

New agreement will leave more water in Lake Mead

Colorado River Cutbacks

Brittany Peterson / AP

Water leaders for Arizona, Nevada, California and the Department of the Interior signed an agreement Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, in Las Vegas to voluntarily reduce their take from the Colorado River to help stave off mandatory cuts in the upcoming years. Low water levels at Lake Mead triggered a federal shortage declaration and cutbacks as the region struggles to meet demands of all users.

Updated Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021 | 2:48 p.m.

Water leaders in Nevada, Arizona and California signed a $200 million agreement today during the Colorado River Water Users Association conference at Caesars Place that increases the amount of water that will stay in Lake Mead in 2022 and 2023 by implementing a voluntary water reduction plan for users.

Known as the 500+ Plan, the agreement will leave an additional 500,000 acre feet of water in Lake Mead — which is at its lowest level in history at 35% full — to hopefully prevent it from reaching dangerously low levels below 1,020 feet.

“This is a call for action,” said Adel Hagekhalil of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. “We don’t have a lot of time to waste. … This (memorandum of understanding) solidifies that we are one. One water, one river and many partners.”

The plan will require Arizona, Nevada, California and the U.S. Department of Interior to contribute millions of dollars to pay those that voluntarily reduce their water usage or implement efficiency projects resulting in savings throughout the lower basin.

Arizona, which under the Boulder Canyon Project Act receives 2.8 million acre feet of water from the Colorado River, will contribute $60 million to the agreement. Nevada, which receives 300,000 acre-feet, will contribute $20 million. California, which receives 4.4 million acre feet of water, will give $20 million. The federal government is matching the combined $100 million contribution.

The 500,000 acre feet of water that will be left in the reservoir is enough to serve 1.5 million households in a year and will translate to water levels about 16 feet higher in Lake Mead, officials said.

The 500+ Plan goes beyond what was signed in 2019 with the Drought Contingency Plan, which outlined how the basin states handle drought.

The water reductions would come from efforts that are both already in place as well as expected changes.

In Southern Nevada, for example, the prohibitions on installing nonfunctional turf and new golf courses has been approved, and limiting the sizes of pools, which lose more than 145,000 gallons of water a year through evaporation, has also been proposed, said Colby Pellegrino, deputy general manager of water resources with the Southern Nevada Water Authority. States will also work with agriculture departments to reduce water usage and implement water recycling programs.

Even at the individual level, people can take actions to help conserve water, whether it is through taking fewer showers, fixing leaky pipes or converting landscapes, Hagekhalil said.

“Every drop we can save is a drop we can store for the future,” he said. “Every single person, every single individual can do something. Do one thing for our water future.”

Leaders decided to go the voluntary route instead of forcing a shortage on water users, said Thomas Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources. Forcing additional shortages would have to be approved in the Arizona Legislature, Buschatzke said.

There are many boards, councils and organizations that are taking action, he said. Arizona cities Glendale and Phoenix, for instance, are participating in the project, in which the department will pay those towns for their water reductions.

“It shows the collaboration that it takes to get something like this done,” Buschatzke said. The agreement is for 2022 and 2023, but it also includes a framework for 2024-2026 to reduce water use, Buschatzke said.

Leaders are also negotiating other agreements that are not scheduled to be signed until early next year, he said.

The Colorado River Water Users Association, a nonprofit organization of nearly 1,000 members from throughout the Upper Basin (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) and lower basin states has an annual forum for discussing important issues related to the river.

Those present at the signing of the memorandum included: Ted Cooke with the Central Arizona Project; Terry Goddard with the Central Arizona Water Conservation District; Erick Wikoska with the Colorado River Commission of Nevada; Adel Hagekhalil with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California; Pat Tyrrell with the State of Wyoming; Tanya Trujillo with the U.S. Department of the Interior; and Buschatzke.

“As we implement these new conservation programs, we will all need to work together to develop even larger strategies and permanent solutions,” Trujillo said.

Two other agreements were signed at the conference on Wednesday to help conserve water in the Colorado River. One was a set of agreements between the Gila River Indian Community, the Colorado River Indian Tribes and the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation to conserve further water that would equal to about 11 feet of elevation in Lake Mead, according to Trujillo.

The other was a resolution between different non-governmental organizations from the conservation community and the three lower basin states to memorialize their intent in conserving water, said John Etsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.