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<br />Las Vegas Nearing Its Water Allotment from the Colorado: Las Vegas area's water demands could
<br />outstrip the region's share of the Colorado River by 2007, according to the 2006 water budget approved
<br />by the Southern Nevada Water Authority in early December.
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<br />Kay Brothers, the Water Authority's deputy general manager, called that timeline a worst-case scenario,
<br />adding that through conservation and careful planning the state's share of the river water could be
<br />stretched beyond 2007, But Brothers acknowledged the day is coming when southern Nevada will no
<br />longer be able to depend largely on its allotment from the river which currently supplies 90 percent of the
<br />area's drinking water. Brothers also said the annual budgets are based on separate projections from each
<br />of the authority's member agencies -- projections that "tend to be conservative," The water authority has
<br />had to come up with back-up resources, just in case,
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<br />The 2006 water resource plan approved along with the agency's budget outlines some of those options,
<br />They include about 290,000 acre feet of groundwater stored beneath the Las Vegas Valley, 30,000 acre
<br />feet banked with California and an agreement with Arizona that guarantees Nevada 1.25 million acre feet
<br />of water over the next 30 years. The water authority already has plans to build a $2 billion pipeline to
<br />pump groundwater from rural basins in rural Nevada, Officials also hope to use water from the Virgin and
<br />Muddy rivers. The first of the rural groundwater is slated to arrive in 2008 from watersheds near Indian
<br />Springs,
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<br />Nevada gets 300,000 acre feet of water that flows into Lake Mead from the Colorado River each year,
<br />though that amount is stretched to about 460,000 acre feet through return-flow credits the state receives
<br />for returning its treated wastewater to Lake Mead
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<br />Wasted Colorado River Water at Issue: No matter how many pipelines, pumps, and dams Western
<br />states build along the Colorado River, billions of gallons of water never make it to the farms and growing
<br />cities that need it. That water seeps into the ground through unlined canals and ditches, escapes
<br />downstream when users can't take it as planned or is sucked up by trees, bushes, and other vegetation
<br />along the river's 1,450-mile course, To water managers in the seven river states, that is wasted water.
<br />With demand growing and the supply limited, or even shrinking in drought years, the states want to
<br />reduce the waste as much as they can, They are studying a range of ideas, from pulling weeds to lining
<br />canals, as part of a broader plan to deal with future shortages.
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<br />Blue River Pump-Back: Some of the pieces of this proposed project are falling into place, raising
<br />expectations that work on the pipeline could begin as soon as next spring. A $500,000 state grant for the
<br />$8-9/5 million project was finalized in late October. As visualized, pipelines would carry Blue River
<br />water from a diversion point just above Dillon Reservoir back to a point near the Iowa Hill water
<br />treatment plant south of town, There, the water would be returned to the river, boosting water levels in a
<br />section of the stream where flows are often very low, The project would help mitigate the effects of
<br />historic silver and gold dredging and improve water quality during the low-flow season between
<br />November and April. The CWCB holds water rights for an instream flow in this area, but because it's a
<br />junior right the water isn't always available, and the pump-back idea would help provide water for those
<br />instream flows, Another pump-back is being considered for the Lower Blue, downstream of Dillon, At
<br />this point there don't appear to be any significant objections from the major water players in the Blue
<br />River Basin, including Vail Resorts and Denver Water.
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<br />Colorado River Water Users Association Holds 2005 Annual Conference: The 2005 Conference of
<br />the Colorado River Water Users Association, entitled "Memories, Milestones and Moving Forward" was .
<br />held on December 14-16, 2005 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The conference featured a multitude of
<br />informative speakers, panel discussions, committee meetings and exhibits of interest to the Colorado
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