Daniel Rothberg covers the environment for The Nevada Independent. We asked him a few 101 questions about the water situation.
Generally speaking, how many acre-feet does Southern Nevada draw from the Colorado in a year, and how many do we return?
"Nevada has the smallest allocation of Colorado River water: 300,000 acre-feet. A sliver compared to California’s 4.4 million. But Southern Nevada, through recycling and conservation, has stretched out its supply. Because Las Vegas recycles nearly all its indoor water through the Las Vegas Wash, water officials are allowed to withdraw more than 450,000 acre-feet from Lake Mead. When you subtract the volume of water recycled from the total diversion, Las Vegas uses less than its small 300,000 acre-foot allocation. Add conservation and the net use is something closer to 220,000 acre-feet."
I've read that the lake is at 29% capacity. Do experts think it will get consistently higher in the near future?
"Lake Mead elevations might get higher, but experts say it’s unlikely that the reservoir will refill to pre-drought levels, at least soon. Despite the good snowpack this year, water managers are preparing for a future, on the whole, that is increasingly arid and more uncertain, with the potential for extreme events. Climate change continues to force everyone on the river to take a hard look at water use. The good news is there seems to be an increasing consensus that planning must prepare for a broader spectrum of events, with more flexibility in management."
How often do people ask you if they should sell their house and get out before the water's all gone?
"Fairly often! The truth is that the whole Colorado River Basin is in this together. Over the past decade, Las Vegas has made itself much more water-secure. It now has an intake that can withdraw water from Lake Mead when California, Arizona, and Mexico cannot. This is going to sound cliché but it’s true: All communities are going to have to take a hard look at what is sustainable, fair, and equitable moving forward. That includes a frank conversation about growth. What kind of growth is appropriate? What is inappropriate?"
