[ft_chief]

Originally Posted by Danknee

Help me understand the data behind the panic:
It looks to me like we are nearly at the same water elevation level we were at in 2010 (1080 versus 1088, 88 lower than the average).

Is it worse for some reason this year versus 2010? Are there factors this year/next year that make a mini-recovery, or at least maintaining the current level less likely than what happened in 2011?

*edit
I guess it is the 54% of average inflows and record low total capacity at 38%?

There is no panic! It is all made up by the media for shock value. We have enough water to last another 20+ yrs if nothing changes. If the dam stops flowing, Las Vegas still has water but Southern California would be in a world of hurt.

[bayview6]

Originally Posted by lvoc

SNWA is a governmental agency. If it stops issuing permits it gets sued.

Doesn't mean anything. Anybody can sue anybody over anything. The question is whether SNWA would be liable and I don't think it would since it is acting in the public's best interest.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by bayview6

Doesn't mean anything. Anybody can sue anybody over anything. The question is whether SNWA would be liable and I don't think it would since it is acting in the public's best interest.

Sorry when you grab a piece of someones land for a highway you still compensate both for the loss of land and the damage to the value of the remaining parcel. Simple as that.

And let me clue you the Nevada legislature understands all that in spades. Any government action that lowers the value of a property is going to have to make good. A private company might get away with refusing to provide a service but not a government owned one. And I suspect the agreement with a water utility would probaby prevent them refusing service to anyone.


And I don't think that SNWA is enthusiastic about the northern pipeline. I believe they have no choice. Barring a very unlikely rework of the Colorado River Compact SNWA is going north at great cost.

[Tek_Freek]

Originally Posted by arleigh

The cities could have been doing something years ago but liberals don't listen .
Cities are the worst consumers of water on junk no one needs along highways and such , it is a flagrant disregard for this valuable resource, and the few people that pay taxes to support it.

Originally Posted by logline

You're funny. Yeah, it must be those environment-hating liberals who don't care about water resources.

I laugh every time I read this stupidity. It's always the ones that are the most clueless that being it up.

[bayview6]

Originally Posted by lvoc

Sorry when you grab a piece of someones land for a highway you still compensate both for the loss of land and the damage to the value of the remaining parcel. Simple as that.

And let me clue you the Nevada legislature understands all that in spades. Any government action that lowers the value of a property is going to have to make good. A private company might get away with refusing to provide a service but not a government owned one. And I suspect the agreement with a water utility would probaby prevent them refusing service to anyone.


And I don't think that SNWA is enthusiastic about the northern pipeline. I believe they have no choice. Barring a very unlikely rework of the Colorado River Compact SNWA is going north at great cost.

SNWA is going to build the pipeline? When is this blessed event going to take place? They were talking about doing it 10 years ago. Today, the likelihood of it happening is getting more remote each passing year because of cost increases and its opponents are better organized. I bet that when the State Engineer gets done with calculating how to establish objective standards on the depletion rate for the basin not too many banks will be interested in financing the project. The problem is that most of the ground water in the basin is from the glacier melt from the last ice sheet. Its current re-charge is not sufficient to supply the pipeline with the annual amount of water needed and protect the current environment in the basin.

Your analysis of the requirement that the government MUST supply a service or else it is a taking of a property is not correct. Taking a piece of land for a highway is an action that requires compensation. Telling a property owner that he must buy a water meter from an existing owner of a water meter doesn't take anybody's property, it merely creates a market that places a value on a limited resource.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by bayview6

SNWA is going to build the pipeline? When is this blessed event going to take place? They were talking about doing it 10 years ago. Today, the likelihood of it happening is getting more remote each passing year because of cost increases and its opponents are better organized. I bet that when the State Engineer gets done with calculating how to establish objective standards on the depletion rate for the basin not too many banks will be interested in financing the project. The problem is that most of the ground water in the basin is from the glacier melt from the last ice sheet. Its current re-charge is not sufficient to supply the pipeline with the annual amount of water needed and protect the current environment in the basin.

Your analysis of the requirement that the government MUST supply a service or else it is a taking of a property is not correct. Taking a piece of land for a highway is an action that requires compensation. Telling a property owner that he must buy a water meter from an existing owner of a water meter doesn't take anybody's property, it merely creates a market that places a value on a limited resource.

I don't think SNWA particularly wants to build the pipeline. They simply will end up with no choice. And the question gets called whenever the lake level reaches the cutback value.

There is not and has never been a requirement to establish depletion rates in Nevada aquifers. How else do you think the aquifers in the Pahrump and Las Vegas Valley could be so totally over drawn? The way the water law is supposed to work is that anyone who interferes with an existing well is forced to desist...though that has never happened either. And the State Engineer is in a bind either way...if he rules tightly on SNWA he prevents anyone else from drawing that water as well.

The revenue stream that guarantees financing is the rate payers of Las Vegas.

Whenever a government agency withdraws an available requirement from a property it will be found to be a taking. And be careful about what can occur...Lake Las Vegas and Coyote Springs are both fine examples of the excessive water rights that float around in Nevada.

[BBMW]

Also, it looks like the annual Colorado River snowpack is starting to get back to normal. It will be interesting (at least) to see what this winter brings.

Originally Posted by Danknee

Help me understand the data behind the panic:
It looks to me like we are nearly at the same water elevation level we were at in 2010 (1080 versus 1088, 88 lower than the average).

Is it worse for some reason this year versus 2010? Are there factors this year/next year that make a mini-recovery, or at least maintaining the current level less likely than what happened in 2011?

*edit
I guess it is the 54% of average inflows and record low total capacity at 38%?

[Buzz123]

Just relying on memory now, but I think the last time there was a long drought, and the lake level dropped way down, I seem to remember them saying it would take seven years of above average snowfall to bring it back up. I don't think anyone worried that much then because we didn't have 2 million people here.

But is perception reality? Is there really a problem? Or is it sensationalism?

Your Perception IS Your Reality

[Kitchen Witch]

Originally Posted by Buzz123

Just relying on memory now, but I think the last time there was a long drought, and the lake level dropped way down, I seem to remember them saying it would take seven years of above average snowfall to bring it back up. I don't think anyone worried that much then because we didn't have 2 million people here.

But is perception reality? Is there really a problem? Or is it sensationalism?

Your Perception IS Your Reality

Yes! Las Vegas running out of water is a great news story. Which makes me wonder why nobody is informing this guy of the impending doom

Water official: Vegas not running dry | Las Vegas Review-Journal


Blessings

[ddrhazy]

There's a moratorium on water meters in Cambria, CA because of the lack of water. They refuse to build a desalination plant due to enviromental reasons. There are people who have been on a wait list for almost 2 decades who bought land but no water meter. Like bayview said, their only option is to buy the water meter from someone else. The land is cheap there, the water meters aren't.

Would that happen here? Probably not. Water authority will reduce the allocation to California which is the biggest user. That's not a good plan either as most of the produce in Vegas markets come from California. California is going to have to invest in desalination plants as we continue sucking up all the water in our inlands.