Law of the Colorado River; are we getting our fair share?

The drought continues in California and now there’s a new crisis brewing when it comes to one of the key water supplies in the Coachella Valley.

Right now, the surface of Lake Mead is at just under 1,076 feet above sea level after sixteen years of drought. That’s nearly 150 feet below what’s considered to be full.

Rose Davis with the Bureau of Reclamation says, “I think it’s a concern for everyone in the Southwest.”

The Colorado River Documents make-up the Law of the Colorado River. One of the big players in the original 1922 compact was the Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover.

Eventually, the dam that would create Lake Mead would be named after him and would change the future of the Southwest. And, ever since, the river and Lake Mead have never failed to meet their obligations.

Now that’s in question.

“We haven’t been this low since Lake Mead started filling and we’re going to get lower this summer,” Davis says.

So, where is all that water going? Some have pointed the finger at Las Vegas, a town known for excess including the fountains at the Bellagio and its thousands of hotel rooms.

Bronson Mack, with the Las Vegas Valley Water District, points out that Southern Nevada is surviving on 300,000 acre feet of water each year. That’s enough to cover 300,000 football fields in one foot of water.

It sounds like a lot until you find out Nevada is the smallest user of river water in the Lower Colorado Basin.

As Davis says, “No pun intended, it’s kind of a drop in the bucket.”

Mexico gets five times as much at 1.5 million acre feet.

Arizona gets 2.85 million acre feet of water.

California gets more than anyone, 4.4 million acre feet of water.

Bob Keeran with the Coachella Valley Water District gives credit to those who first tried to settle the river rights so many years ago, “These guys were getting together and controlling the Colorado, something that changed the entire Southwest.”

He says the Coachella Valley Water District’s original entitlement was 300,000 acre feet, the same that Las Vegas gets today.

That water is crucial here in the Coachella Valley where it’s being used for irrigation and to replenish the aquifer. In recent years, ground water levels have risen dramatically in the east valley thanks to those efforts.

Other states are also doing their part to make every drop of that river water count.

Arizona and Nevada have drastically limited landscaping in new developments. Las Vegas is also doing its part, reclaiming most of the water it uses indoors.

Mack says all of the hotels on the Las Vegas Strip use a little more than 3 percent of the area’s water.

That’s because all of that water is treated and then returned to Lake Mead.

All of those efforts have helped put-off what may now be inevitable.

If a study in August projects the lake’s surface level at under 1075 feet on December 31st, there will be a shortage declaration.

California has senior water rights, so it wouldn’t have to take cuts in deliveries initially. Arizona and Nevada would be hit first.

That could change, depending on the outcome of on-going negotiations being called the Drought Contingency Planning Effort.

California may agree to share in cuts before it’s legally required to do so, in hopes of avoiding a larger crisis in the future that would impact the Golden State.

In the meantime, the push for conservation will continue along with the hope of more snowfall next year in the Rockies which would help alleviate the crisis.