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Water deal could raise Mead's level
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K.M. CANNON/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Lake Mead just North of Hoover Dam is shown in October, when the elevation of water in Lake mead dropped to the lowest level since it was filled for the first time. A new water agreement with Mexico could help raise the water level by 3 feet or more. » Buy this photo
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
The United States and Mexico have struck a deal that could raise the level of Lake Mead by about 3 feet and open the spigot on future cross-border Colorado River agreements.
Under the accord announced Monday, Mexico will be allowed to store up to 260,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead while it repairs canals and pipelines damaged in a 7.2 magnitude quake that struck Mexicali on April 4.
The extra water could raise the surface of Lake Mead by 3 feet or more, enough perhaps to stave off federally mandated shortages on the Colorado River for another year. Under such a declaration, the amount of water that Nevada and Arizona could take from the system would be reduced.
Every inch of water counts right now, Southern Nevada Water Authority chief Pat Mulroy said. "It could make the difference between having a shortage declaration and not having one."
It also could lead to bigger things, including a comprehensive agreement on how Mexico will share in a shortage and how the two countries might exchange water in the future.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and his Mexican counterpart, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada, announced the agreement in Mexico City on Monday and directed their representatives to start talks next month on a larger agreement.
Mulroy, who is playing a direct role in the talks, said she hopes agreement can be hammered out by the end of next year.
"We don't want a conflict with Mexico over the shortage issue," she said. "That's not going to be helpful to anyone, so the sooner we get this worked out the better."
As for potential water exchanges, Mulroy said Nevada could help pay for the construction of ocean desalting plants on the Baja coastline in trade for some of Mexico's Colorado River water.
Mexico is allowed to take 1.5 million acre-feet of water annually from the Colorado under a 1944 treaty with the United States.
Nevada gets 300,000 acre-feet from the river annually. One acre-foot of water is enough to supply two average homes in the Las Vegas Valley for one year.
Talks between the two nations sped up after the Easter earthquake, which damaged almost 400 miles of canals used to irrigate 148,000 acres of cropland just south of the California border.
The quake also damaged the canals that deliver Colorado River water to the cities of Mexicali and Tijuana, but those facilities are still in use, said Sally Spener, spokeswoman for the U.S. section of the International Boundary and Water Commission.
The agreement allows Mexico to store its unused Colorado River water in Lake Mead through 2013. Once the earthquake damage is repaired, Mexico could begin withdrawing its banked water from the reservoir in 2014, though not all at once.
Mexico also is barred from taking its water back if additional withdrawals from Lake Mead would "trigger or exacerbate a shortage," Spener said.
"That language being in this agreement was very important to us," Mulroy said of the Colorado River users in the United States. "That gives us comfort."
Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350.
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obama will save us.
alwaysright, You must be a product of Lake Mead then...
Did you know that Lake Mead is the Biggest Poop Pond in the world?
american angel. You give AMERICANS and common sense a bad name. The water will not be coming from Mexico. It is water they get from Lake Mead that they will not receive in this deal. We will get to keep the water instead of sending it down stream to them. The name "american angel" seems out of place for you.
the water queen and her words are coming back it her now.
she gave away the store, cant file cases corrrectly and socked it to
the user to finance new construction rather than issue water bonds,
and the end result is no watta.
We give fresh water to Mexico in the Colorado River water system and the Mexicians give us the most polluted water back to us in the New River. It just does not seem fair. By the way the New River goes into the Salton Sea.
"Mulroy said Nevada could help pay for the construction of ocean desalting plants on the Baja coastline in trade for some of Mexico's Colorado River water."
What authority has Mulroy to make such a grand proposal as this? The costs of desalinization is staggering. Back to the drawing board, Mulroy.
racism is sin..grow up, will ya?
LET THEM KEEP THEIR WATER AND TAKE THEIR ILLEGALS BACK I DONT WANT MEXICOS WATER YOU CANT DRINK THAT ROTTON CRAP THIS IS ALL THE MORE REASON TO MOVE!!!
WOW we will have water for the next 4 years lets build more housing developments.