Sustainable solutions needed to the water crisis in the West

Editor’s note: As he traditionally does around this time every year, Brian Greenspun is turning over his Where I Stand column to others. Today’s guest is Pat Mulroy, the former general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. She is currently president and CEO of Sustainable Strategies, a senior fellow at the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law and a member of the Wynn Resorts board of directors.

When I sat down a year ago to pen a guest Where I Stand column, the water situation on the Colorado River looked very different. The previous winter had brought no relief to the drought-stricken region and the reservoirs were threatening to drop to catastrophic levels with the very real possibility that our neighbors south of us could be cut off from river water entirely. The reaction of the states and the federal government was exactly what could be expected in those circumstances … fast, deep and dramatic reductions in use. Tempers flared and lawyers were hired to assert the various legal claims.

Then this winter the basin experienced a rare atmospheric river bringing heavy snows to the Rockies. Reservoirs that had been predicted to fall were now expected to rise somewhat. That was enough breathing room for the states to adopt a temporary solution of remedial reductions until a larger, more permanent solution can be found before 2026.

Southern Nevada has chosen to make itself 100% dependent on the Colorado River, which becomes more unreliable with each passing year. The third prong for Nevada will therefore have to be in partnership with our neighbors, and probably be built on land not under our control. 

Pat Mulro

Everyone realizes that water use throughout the region has to be reduced to a new baseline. But what is a sustainable and economically and socially responsible baseline? The federal government feels it needs to be an elimination of two million to four million acre-feet of use annually. Even at the low end of the range, that would represent a permanent cut in average annual water usage of more than 15% throughout the entire Colorado River system.

Achieving cuts of that magnitude will be acrimonious and painful, and whether over the long term those are sufficient and sustainable will be a function of our ability to predict the full magnitude of what a changing climate has in store for the region.

When I look around the world at what regions are sustainable, two countries immediately come to mind … Israel and Singapore. They have built their future on a three-pronged approach: conservation, reuse and new supplies through desalination of ocean water. They have a keen understanding that conservation and reuse are not enough and that in many instances they can work against each other. If you have an aggressive indoor conservation program, you reduce the amount of water that is available for reuse. And as all important and foundational as conservation is, at some point you will hit a wall, and any further reductions will have unwanted social and economic consequences. What makes these two countries truly sustainable is that […]

Full article: lasvegassun.com