Revision as of 14:05, 10 May 2013

Summary

The Las Vegas Valley, which includes the city of Las Vegas and the surrounding municipalities, is located in the Mojave Desert in Southern Nevada. Like most desert cities, Las Vegas exists because of water; the artesian springs of the Las Vegas Valley provided an ample water supply for Native Americans, ranchers and later a small railroad city. However, population growth increased demands far beyond local supplies. The area now depends on the Colorado River for the majority of its water supply. Natural scarcity, population growth and climate variability all contribute to the Valley’s water management challenges. This analysis addresses the following questions: 1) How can cooperation lead to better water demand management? 2) What conditions enable effective cooperation? The case demonstrates that a well-structured cooperative agency can prompt joint action by decreasing competition over water supplies. The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), a regional water utility made up of five water suppliers, was formed out of the water crisis that stuck the Las Vegas Valley in the late 1980s. Although the scarcity was key enabling condition for the creation of the SNWA, the transition would not have been as successful without the strong leadership present. Since its formation, the SNWA has fostered cooperation among the five water suppliers and contributed to substantial per capita demand reductions. However, as population growth continues and climate change exacerbates natural variability, the SNWA and its members will need to adapt to continue providing reliable water supply.

Natural, Historic, Economic, Regional, and Political Framework

The Las Vegas Valley is located in the Mojave Desert in Southern Nevada and receives about 10 cm (4 inches) of rainfall a year. Area municipalities rely on both groundwater and the Colorado River for water supply. Fast growing urban areas and a booming tourism industry have stressed water supplies. Natural climate variability with periodic droughts has further challenged water providers; projected climate changes will exacerbate these challenges.

Demographics

American settlement of Las Vegas began in 1855 when a group of Mormons built a settlement based around irrigated agriculture (Harrison 2009). Soon after the Mormons abandoned the valley but ranching and irrigated agriculture continued. The town of Las Vegas was formed in 1905 as a railroad way station (Douglass & Raento 2004). At the beginning of the 19th century, Las Vegas was a typical small western town. It grew rapidly in the 1920’s and 30’s, fueled by federal spending and an influx of workers for the Hoover Dam; government spending again fueled growth in the 1950’s as atomic testing and military training was conducted outside Las Vegas (Jones & Cahlan 1975). The rapid growth continued into the early 2000’s with Las Vegas being the fastest growing city, in the fastest growing state since World War II as seen in Figure 1 (Douglass & Raento 2004). In addition to rapid population growth, Las Vegas has been a significant tourist destination since the 1930’s. Gambling was legalized in the 1931 and by 1935 Las Vegas was already established as a marriage destination due to California’s three day waiting period for a marriage license; Hoover Dam attracted new visitors and tourism further expanded in 1941 with the start of the resort industry (Jones & Cahlan 1975). Tourism continued to grow and Las Vegas saw a huge boom in tourism with annual visitors steadily increasing from 1970 until the mid-1990’s as seen in Figure 2 (LVCLA 2013).

Governance

Las Vegas Land and Water Company

The Las Vegas Land and Water Company, which was owned by the Union Pacific Railroad, was the first water utility to serve the Las Vegas Valley. In 1931 the Land and Water Company was granted a 50 year franchise to provide water to the city of Las Vegas (Jones & Cahlan 1975). A 1945 study by the USGS showed that groundwater withdrawals were unsustainable and then, the city commissioned a survey to study the cost of bringing water from Lake Mead. The Land and Water Company, unwilling to invest in a pipeline from Lake Mead, decided in 1949 to sell the water system; the sale to the Las Vegas Valley Water District was finalized in 1954 (Jones & Cahlan 1975).

Las Vegas Valley Water District

The Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD), a public water agency, was authorized in 1947 as the town of Las Vegas was facing its first major water crisis (LVVWD 2013). The LVVWD was created in order to begin to use some of the state’s allocation of Colorado River water and to reduce groundwater usage. In 1952, the district signed an agreement with Basic Magnesium, Inc. to obtain a portion of the company’s water withdrawal from Lake Mead (Jones & Cahlan 1975). Throughout the 1950’s the LVVWD bought up small water systems serving the city to consolidate the water service operations (Jones & Cahlan 1975). The district’s responsibilities increased in the early 1970’s as it took control of the newly completed Southern Nevada Water Project and was tasked with developing a pollution abatement plan for the Las Vegas Wash (Jones & Cahlan 1975). The issue of pollution abatement also sparked the first plans for a regional water agency. Pollution in the Las Vegas Wash came from multiple municipalities, not all served by the LVVWD. Creation of a regional water utility was debated in the early 1970’s but no new agency was created at that time (Jones & Cahlan 1975).

Southern Nevada Water Authority

The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) is made up of the five water suppliers and two wastewater purveyors of the region including Boulder City, Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, LVVWD, Clark County Water Reclamation District and Big Bend Water District (SNWA 2009). In order to regionally manage water, the five suppliers combined their water rights and got rid of the system of priority rights (Mulroy 2008). In the authority all member agencies have equal power regardless of size and each of the water suppliers has veto power over decisions affecting the group (Mulroy 2008). Each utility runs its own operations but infrastructure, conservation and planning are implemented by the SNWA regionally (Harrison 2009). Each municipality and county covered by the SNWA is also required to follow the agreed upon conservation standards. The approximate service area of the SNWA can be seen in Figure 4.

Water Supply & Demand

Groundwater

Groundwater was the historic water supply of the Las Vegas Valley. The local groundwater system is a two layer aquifer system consisting of a near surface aquifer and a deeper artesian aquifer. Recharge in the near surface layer is predominately from over irrigation and urban runoff while higher precipitation (around 50 cm or 20 inches per year) in the Mountain ranges surrounding the valley recharges the deep aquifer (Morris et al 1997). Historically, artesian springs could be found throughout the valley and were used by the Native American population for centuries (Morris et al 1997). Groundwater remained the primary source of water for the Valley until the early 1970’s. However, as the city grew groundwater usage quickly surpassed sustainable yield. Some areas of the Valley saw as much as a 45 m (150 ft) drop in groundwater levels from 1945 to 1995 (Morris et al. 1997), and in 1962 the Las Vegas springs first stopped flowing to the surface (LVVWD 2013). Today groundwater is still an important water source for the area and SNWA manages a mix of local and regional groundwater systems to supplement the Colorado River supply (SNWA 2009).

Surface Water

The Hoover Dam and Lake Mead Reservoir were completed in 1936 to provide storage and water supply for California, Arizona and Nevada. At the time Las Vegas still had sufficient groundwater to cover its demands and its use of the Colorado River water did not begin until two decades later. In 1955, the Las Vegas Valley Water District signed an agreement with Basic Magnesium, Inc., a private company, to use their existing pump station and pipeline (Jones & Cahlan 1975). In the early 1960’s the LVVWD began designing the Southern Nevada Water System which consisted of an in-take structure at Lake Mead, treatment works and distribution system; the first stage of the project, in-take No. 1, was complete in 1971. The second stage of the project, in-take No. 2, was completed in 1982 increasing capacity to 400 million gallons per day (MGD) (LVVWD 2013). In the early 2000’s drought conditions, as seen in Figure 3, threatened in-take No. 1 which would be out of service if Lake Mead levels dropped below 1050 feet. In 2005, the Southern Nevada Water Authority board authorized the construction of a third and lower in-take structure which is scheduled for completion in 2014 (SNWA 2013).

Recycled Water

Several wastewater treatment plants in the valley currently provide treated wastewater for reuse: the Boulder City plant, the Water Pollution Control Facility, the Bonanza Mojave Water Resource Center and Northwest Water Resource Center (SNWA 2009). A portion of the treated effluent is used by the sand and gravel industry, golf courses, schools and parks. The remaining effluent is returned to the Colorado River; this earns return flow credits, allowing additional in-take from Lake Mead.

Conservation and Demand Management

The Las Vegas Valley has made numerous attempts at increasing water conservation in response to water shortages. In the 1940’s summer water shortages led to low pressure in the water mains and customers at higher elevations, including the second floor of a hospital, had no water service. The Las Vegas Land and Water Company instituted landscape water restrictions banning watering from 9 am to 6 pm (Jones & Cahlan 1975). There was a state law against water meters in town’s larger than 4,500 residents; in an effort to curb waste, the Las Vegas Land and Water Company attempted to repeal the law in the early 1950’s, but the legislature voted against it (Jones & Cahlan 1975). In 1955, the Las Vegas Valley Water District got an exemption from the metering ban and began to distribute water meters; in 1958, when 90% of customers had received meters volume based pricing replaced the previous flat rate (Jones & Cahlan 1975).

Since its formation in 1991, the SNWA has used a combination of regulation, water pricing, incentives and education to promote water conservation. Regulatory measures include timing restrictions on landscape watering, ban of turf installation in new residential front yards, and golf course watering limits (SNWA 2009). The SNWA has an increasing block price structure for water charges to discourage water waste. The utility also offers incentives for conservation measures including the following: tuft removal, efficient irrigation equipment, pool covers, water smart car washes, and Water Efficient Technologies (SNWA 2009). Educational efforts include demonstration gardens, a conservation hotline and training for teachers (SNWA 2009).

Despite initial successes, critics argue that there is substantial room for further reductions. While outdoor conservation measures such as turf removal incentives have reduced demands, outdoor water use in Las Vegas is still higher than in other arid and semi-arid cities (Cooley 2007). Due to high outdoor water use the majority of conservation efforts in Las Vegas have focused on landscape use; Las Vegas has only achieved small gains in indoor conservation. The SNWA provides free retrofit kits (including leak detection and faucet aerators) to single family homes built before 1989 but no assistance or incentives for newer homes (Cooley 2007). Multi-family homes are eligible for rebates through SNWA’s Water Efficient Technologies program but between 2002 and 2007 only 30 were claimed (Cooley 2007). One reason for slow action on indoor conservation may be that SNWA earns return flow credits for treated wastewater returned to the Colorado and indoor use reductions would reduce this flow. However, benefits of indoor conservation would likely outweigh costs; the utility would reduce energy and chemical costs associated with water transport and treatment (Cooley 2007). Additionally, as the population grows, indoor conservation can allow more people to be served with the same amount of water while still generating return flows (Cooley 2007).

Analysis, Synthesis, and Insight

ASI:Formation of the SNWA: Cooperation in Demand Management

The formation of the Southern Nevada Water Authority stems from the stakeholders recognition of their interdependence. This case demonstrates that stakeholders need for cooperation, and therefore their willingness to cooperate, increases in proportion to the stresses on the system. It also demonstrates that good leadership was instrumental to the success of the Authority in controlling water demands and acquiring water supplies.(read the full article... )

Contributed by: Margaret Garcia (last edit: 20 May 2013)