Blue Sage News: Progressive blog picks up PLAN release on threats to Lake Mead. 

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography study warning that population growth and unsustainable water use policies are threatening to dry up Lake Mead, Las Vegas’ primary water source, should be a wake-up call for government agencies, the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada said Wednesday.

This week researchers warned that there was a 50 percent chance Lake Mead would dry up by 2021 if future water use is not addressed. The researchers cited sustained drought and population growth as primary factors behind the problem.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority has used threats to the Colorado River and Lake Mead as a justification for huge groundwater pumping from rural Nevada, but Launce Rake, a PLAN organizer and former environmental reporter, noted that the SNWA plan does not address the root issues behind the threats.

Exporting environmental damage to rural Nevada while encouraging unabated population growth is a recipe for catastrophe, Rake said.

“The fact is that we have some of the cheapest water and some of the heaviest water users in the country in Las Vegas,” he said. “We have developments all over the area that have acres and acres of water-hungry turf that serve no purpose other than decoration. And we have growth and water-use policies that seemed designed by developers for the profit of developers.”

Rake said water conservation and efficiency measures have worked in other parts of the Southwest to reduce water use, but ultimately local, state and federal agencies need to look at what kinds of communities are sustainable in the region.

The focus on conservation also comes as the Clark County Commission, acting as the board of the Las Vegas Valley Water District, is scheduled to consider conservation-related water rate changes measures next week. The Water District is the sister agency of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

For more information on water use, go to the Pacific Institute/Western Resource Advocates report "Hidden Oasis: Water Conservation in Las Vegas" at www.pacinst.org. For more information of the costs of the Southern Nevada Water Authority pipeline, see the Defenders of Wildlife recent report at www.defenders.org, or PLAN’s 2006 report at www.PLANevada.org.

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