Water, Water Anywhere?? (Las Vegas: credit, storage, store)
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Political and legal. The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution which guarantees due process of law and the federal law requiring environmental impact statements. I think that there is a growing awareness in Nevada that pumping the huge amounts of groundwater from the northern counties like SNWA wants to do will cause irreparable harm to the ecology of the area.
The federal role is confined to environmental impact statements on the routing of the pipelines through BLM land. They have already agreed in general to the wells planned.
The water law of Nevada gives the first applicant rights to water if it is available. A State Engineer decision that it is not available would also prevent anyone else from any further pumping from that aquifer. Note that the SE is generally only lightly concerned with environmental impacts. There charter is to get water to a beneficial use.
The SE has already determined that water is available. That is not likely to be overturned. The courts have opened the process to new protests...but they are a very hard task to win. And note again - if you win big nobody gets the water.
The SE works to NRS rules. They can be changed at will by the legislature. SNWA is quite capable of influencing the legislature if it becomes a major issue.
Note again that any recognition that significant ecological or other damage would also cut off the locals from any further growth in usage...
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The fact is that the likelihood of SNWA actually building the pipeline to the northern counties goes down in time because technology has produced other sustainable alternatives that get better going forward and because there is no crisis that requires immediate action. Las Vegas has the highest per capita water use of any Southwestern city so there is a LOT that can be done to conserve the water we currently have.
Be careful about usage numbers. They are not accounted in the same way in various cities. When all done Las Vegas is around average for a SW city.
Note that SNWA has done well on conservation and plans to continue to do better. That will however not relieve the long term issue.
In the State Engineer process the fish or cut bait will be reached in the next 10 years. At that point SNWA will almost certainly fish. They have no other good options. Even with good snow in the Rockies the outcome will be the same. They have no other good option.
It's 275 miles to LA, but who's counting? The Imperial Valley is in California, not Nevada, and I don't think they'd let us have even their sewer water. Sorry, just sounds like a pipe dream ..."pipe dream" ...get it.
as opposed to a wet dream...for which LV has many.
The federal role is confined to environmental impact statements on the routing of the pipelines through BLM land. They have already agreed in general to the wells planned.
The water law of Nevada gives the first applicant rights to water if it is available. A State Engineer decision that it is not available would also prevent anyone else from any further pumping from that aquifer. Note that the SE is generally only lightly concerned with environmental impacts. There charter is to get water to a beneficial use.
The SE has already determined that water is available. That is not likely to be overturned. The courts have opened the process to new protests...but they are a very hard task to win. And note again - if you win big nobody gets the water.
The SE works to NRS rules. They can be changed at will by the legislature. SNWA is quite capable of influencing the legislature if it becomes a major issue.
Note again that any recognition that significant ecological or other damage would also cut off the locals from any further growth in usage...
Be careful about usage numbers. They are not accounted in the same way in various cities. When all done Las Vegas is around average for a SW city.
Note that SNWA has done well on conservation and plans to continue to do better. That will however not relieve the long term issue.
In the State Engineer process the fish or cut bait will be reached in the next 10 years. At that point SNWA will almost certainly fish. They have no other good options. Even with good snow in the Rockies the outcome will be the same. They have no other good option.
The draft environmental impact statement for the pipeline will be issued this Spring. Should be interesting reading since it will include an analysis of the proposed action and alternatives.
I agree that LV usage is similar to other SW cities once the large number of visitors that LV gets each year is taken into consideration. However, there is still room for more improvement in that area such as water used for landscaping.
I tend to see this pipeline as a way for LV to continue its intense passion for unrestrained growth at any price. I don't think that LV has to build this pipeline to order to maintain its current population with water even if the worst case happens to the Colorado River supply. So when you say there is no other good option I think what you are saying that without the pipeline LV will not continue to grow by leaps and bounds and will have to re-invent itself.
In any event, this pipeline is designed to deplete a finite resource and eventually we will be back to the same place that we started from except another dust bowl will have been created.
The draft environmental impact statement for the pipeline will be issued this Spring. Should be interesting reading since it will include an analysis of the proposed action and alternatives.
I agree that LV usage is similar to other SW cities once the large number of visitors that LV gets each year is taken into consideration. However, there is still room for more improvement in that area such as water used for landscaping.
I tend to see this pipeline as a way for LV to continue its intense passion for unrestrained growth at any price. I don't think that LV has to build this pipeline to order to maintain its current population with water even if the worst case happens to the Colorado River supply. So when you say there is no other good option I think what you are saying that without the pipeline LV will not continue to grow by leaps and bounds and will have to re-invent itself.
In any event, this pipeline is designed to deplete a finite resource and eventually we will be back to the same place that we started from except another dust bowl will have been created.
Las Vegas needs another reasonable source of water. Regardless of future growth. And yes Las Vegas expects to grow some more. And there is nothing wrong with that.
In the event of a Colorado worse case Las Vegas has 60K AF to live off. That is sufficient for half a million maybe with draconian restrictions. They could probably pump 100K AF for a few years but that would cause rather rapid drop in the local aquifer. And I don't think they have pumping capablity for more than that. And they will likely get sued if they get to 100K.
So no LV cannot exist in anything like its existing format without Colorado River water.
The upstate pipeline does not deplete any resource. Properly managed they can pump the proposal forever.
As an example note that the local aquifer has risen for the past fifteen years.
Las Vegas needs another reasonable source of water. Regardless of future growth. And yes Las Vegas expects to grow some more. And there is nothing wrong with that.
In the event of a Colorado worse case Las Vegas has 60K AF to live off. That is sufficient for half a million maybe with draconian restrictions. They could probably pump 100K AF for a few years but that would cause rather rapid drop in the local aquifer. And I don't think they have pumping capablity for more than that. And they will likely get sued if they get to 100K.
So no LV cannot exist in anything like its existing format without Colorado River water.
The upstate pipeline does not deplete any resource. Properly managed they can pump the proposal forever.
As an example note that the local aquifer has risen for the past fifteen years.
As you said previously, water use is a political matter. Since LV is so heavily dependent on the Colorado River, we need our politicians to see to it that LV gets enough water during the worst case situation to maintain its current population. The Colorado River is not going to run dry anytime soon so it is totally a political matter. The bottom line is that Nevada's share in the river is so small that maintaining it will not significantly impact total flow. Las Vegas' solution to our water situation is not to create more dust bowls in other Nevada valleys but to maintain its current share of the river water regardless of any possible reduce river flow. I do agree with building the "3rd straw".
The upstate pipeline will seriously lower aquifer water level in the affected valleys and the current ecology in those valleys will be destroyed. Almost all of the experts agree on that.
If the deep aquifer is rising it is because there is no more pumping from it and the local water authority is using it as storage for excess Colorado River water. The Las Vegas valley has dropped 6 ft because the aquifer has compressed and the lost aquifer volume will never be restored.
As for Las Vegas growing more, one would think that the SNWA would stop any new water connections and let the market control the allocation of water meters. Frankly, I can't think of one good reason why LV should grow any larger than it is now. We certainly have enough casinos, vacant houses and unemployed as it is.
As you said previously, water use is a political matter. Since LV is so heavily dependent on the Colorado River, we need our politicians to see to it that LV gets enough water during the worst case situation to maintain its current population. The Colorado River is not going to run dry anytime soon so it is totally a political matter. The bottom line is that Nevada's share in the river is so small that maintaining it will not significantly impact total flow. Las Vegas' solution to our water situation is not to create more dust bowls in other Nevada valleys but to maintain its current share of the river water regardless of any possible reduce river flow. I do agree with building the "3rd straw".
The upstate pipeline will seriously lower aquifer water level in the affected valleys and the current ecology in those valleys will be destroyed. Almost all of the experts agree on that.
You need a source for that who is not environmentally extreme. I doubt the truth of your statement. I will guarantee I can provide an SNWA linked source that will not agree.
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If the deep aquifer is rising it is because there is no more pumping from it and the local water authority is using it as storage for excess Colorado River water. The Las Vegas valley has dropped 6 ft because the aquifer has compressed and the lost aquifer volume will never be restored.
As for Las Vegas growing more, one would think that the SNWA would stop any new water connections and let the market control the allocation of water meters. Frankly, I can't think of one good reason why LV should grow any larger than it is now. We certainly have enough casinos, vacant houses and unemployed as it is.
The aquifer is pumped to the tune of 40 or 50K AF It provides that and continues to rise.
You are of course welcome to your opinion. But it is not widely shared. I would like to see growth controlled. But realistically that is unlikely.
The reason for the growth is because there are still a large number of people who would rather live here than someplace else. I see no reason not to satisfy them at least until we reach some limit.
Fishman: Vegas Represents Brilliant Case Study in Water Management - Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fishman-Vegas-Represents-dg-1906596309.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=9&asset=&cc ode= - broken link)
Ch-3 News tonight reported that Lake Mead will rise, I think they said, 32 feet, by October. They plan to release more of Lake Powell water than originally planned.
Fishman: Vegas Represents Brilliant Case Study in Water Management - Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fishman-Vegas-Represents-dg-1906596309.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=9&asset=&cc ode= - broken link)
The aquifer is pumped to the tune of 40 or 50K AF It provides that and continues to rise.
What aquifer is that?
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