Expense of managing Colo. River will impact Nev.
By Andrew Doughman, Las Vegas Sun
Federal water experts and climatologists on Friday issued a grim report on the future of the Colorado River watershed to lawmakers from around the West in Las Vegas.
But perhaps no other state has as much at stake in the river’s declining conditions as Nevada.
Managing the Colorado River will cost billions of dollars over the next 50 years, according to the panel of experts at the Council of State Governments West conference.
Demand for the Colorado River’s water exceeds supply, meaning governments will likely have to spend from $4 billion to $7 billion to ensure a stable water supply in Nevada, Arizona, California, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico.
Federal government experts see population growth in these states as increasing demand for water. The billions of dollars would be put toward increasing supply — through re-use, importation, or desalination of water — and decreasing demand through conservation in residences, industry and agriculture.
Managing the Colorado began in 1930 when Hoover Dam (named for one more damn Republican) started construction for the purpose of providing water for the greediest without a single thought toward future generations.
Investing in proper management today is at least a commendable idea, but it will ultimately become yet another political takeover. The question will be who will win – will Phoenix be bulldozed or Southern California dehydrated? Northern California needs to watch its rivers while the rest of the West tries to watch out for its aquifers, but those efforts will likely be doomed to failure.
Meanwhile, even the Giants can’t win.
Colorado Rive water goes to keep the ice plant on San Diego Freeways watered. Water meant to fill Mono Lake is diverted to Los Angeles. How did we let this happen?
Early developers scammed Owens Valley folks into low ball selling of their water rights to Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Supposedly, Los Angeles needed the water, but the developers in fact were using the water to enable them to develop the San Fernando Valley.
I don’t know if it’s cynical or not, but some folks today feel that Owens Valley benefited from the theft of its water since, if water there were still as plentiful as it once was, the Owens Valley would look like the San Fernando Valley. And the San Fernando Valley would never have been developed. Or so some dreamers believe.
Nevertheless, LADWP pretty much politically controls Mono, Mammoth, Bishop and the Owens Valley to this day.
Sorry to take this so far off topic – I’m much more familiar with the LADWP water thefts than the Colorado River travesties.