Las Vegas Review-Journal: ‘It’s crunch time’ to save Lake Mead as negotiations stall, Nevada leader says
Lake Mead is the foundation for life in Southern Nevada, but it’s clearer than ever that the Colorado River system is headed for turbulence.
In addition to water, time is in short supply to strike a seven-state consensus deal for the Colorado River, said Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., on Thursday at her third annual Southern Nevada Water Summit.
The most recent projection for Lake Mead shows the reservoir dropping below its historic lows by summer 2027, a fact underscoring the idea that all 40 million people that the Colorado River serves will need to live with less.
“It’s crunch time for the negotiators,” Lee told the crowd of about 50. “There’s a lot of places where I don’t see eye to eye with this current administration, but we do agree on this much: The best path forward for the Colorado River system is one that is jointly chartered and agreed upon by the basin states and the tribes, not one that is imposed upon us living in the West by Washington, D.C.”
Lee hosted her summit at Springs Preserve on Thursday morning to discuss the most pressing issues regarding Las Vegas’ tiny share of the Colorado River. She was joined by U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.; Colby Pellegrino, Southern Nevada Water Authority deputy general manager; the Colorado River Commission of Nevada; and UNLV startup WAVR Technologies.
The interstate negotiations Lee spoke of have been ongoing for years, as the 2007 guidelines for the river expire at the end of 2026. Behind closed doors, seven state representatives are racing against the clock to find common ground between two coalitions of states, the Upper and Lower Basins.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who oversees the federal Bureau of Reclamation, has indicated that he will decide for the states if they cannot agree to a deal — a move that experts have said would almost certainly lead to a long legal battle.
Federal funding cleared
When President Donald Trump took office, he initiated a review of all the government’s spending, sending shock waves down to some agencies with projects reliant on federal grants — including the water authority.
Notably absent from the summit was the Bureau of Reclamation, whose commissioner attended the summit last year and gave the press a rare opportunity to ask questions. That former commissioner, native Las Vegas resident Camille Calimlim Touton, was in the audience on Thursday, however.
Though the Trump administration named Western water insider and Arizonan Ted Cooke as its pick for commissioner this summer, the nomination has made no progress in the U.S. Senate, despite the intensifying dealmaking process.
Since those early days of the administration, Pellegrino said, federally funded projects in Southern Nevada and across the Colorado River Basin are continuing. For instance, a $60 million investment to fund Southern Nevada’s grass conversion program is flowing, as is another project to boost water quality treatment.
In her remarks, Cortez Masto said water conservation must continue regardless of partisan politics.
No one is quite sure if the states will agree before mid-November, when Burgum has indicated he would need at least the bullet points of a preliminary, consensus-based plan. February is when Burgum wants it finalized.
Pellegrino confirmed that all seven states are still mulling what some have called a “divorce” concept, where a natural flow measured at Lees Ferry in Arizona would determine how much water is released from Lake Powell into Lake Mead.
While no details are available about what a release structure would look like at this point, Pellegrino praised the natural flow idea as a good one, based on how much water is actually available in the system — which won’t be much.