Amid ‘tense’ Colorado River negotiations, water summit keeps focus on conservation efforts

3 key takeaways for Nevadans from Rep. Susie Lee’s annual event to help alleviate the Colorado River’s ongoing water crisis.

By Kiara Adams

Nevada Independent

Among “contentious negotiations” regarding usage and the ongoing water crisis of the Colorado River, Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) hosted the third annual Water Summit at Springs Preserve in Las Vegas on Aug. 28. In addition to the news on negotiations, the main takeaways from this year’s summit included discussions on funding, legislation and local conservation efforts.

Colorado River negotiations

Lee described the negotiations between Nevada, Arizona and California on water use from the Colorado River as tense. However, she said she believes the best path forward is one that is “jointly chartered and agreed upon” by the basin states and the tribes. She said the worst outcome would be one imposed upon the West from legislators living in Washington, D.C.

The 2022 three-state water conservation agreement expires at the end of next year, giving the current round of negotiations a sense of urgency.

Colby Pellegrino, deputy general manager of resources for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, described the current agreement as a short term fix to a larger issue. She added that this round of negotiations among the basin states is the hardest she’s ever been a part of since joining the water authority in 2006.

“Everybody has to give up more,” Pellegrino said. “Everyone has a reason for why they shouldn't be the next person, and everyone else also has a unique set of circumstances that kind of define what their water journey is.”

Pellegrino gave examples of farmers in all the basin states who are already feeling the pinch from water cuts.

“There's a very wide range of possibilities, and so it's hard to get your head wrapped around how you might deal with all of those possibilities, and they all require us to do more in terms of losing less water,” Pellegrino said.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) said she was touting Nevada’s xeriscaping efforts — in which Nevadans replace their lawns with artificial grass or desert landscaping to save water — to a colleague whose state is struggling with water conservation, and the colleague said their constituents would “hang” them for such an extreme measure.

“That is the challenge we have,” Cortez Masto said. “That is the challenge we have with all the basin states. Everybody is in this together. If we are doing it, if we are recycling, large scale water recycling projects are key to this effort.”

Funding and legislation

The first water summit happened in 2023 after water levels at Lake Mead hit a historic low. Now in the third summit, Lee said more work needs to be done.

“We are by no means out of the woods,” she said, “but we can say that the efforts of water conservation and the historic investments from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has definitely paid off.”

Lee mentioned that some of the Trump administration actions, including the freezing and unfreezing of federal funds, have “totally wreaked havoc” on negotiations.

“We passed historic legislation, $8.3 billion in investments in water conservation across the West, that is literally being held up in limbo by the Trump administration,” Lee said.

Cortez Masto said this work needs to be consistent in addressing the needs of the Colorado River regardless of administration or party lines.

“We're looking for commonsense legislation that helps us manage our needs here in Southern Nevada, but also the water in the Colorado River,” Cortez Masto said.

Cortez Masto noted there's about $4.5 billion in the Inflation Reduction Act meant to combat drought in the West, including $4 billion that was secured specifically for drought mitigation in the Colorado River Basin.

According to Cortez Masto, $2 billion has already been spent on a variety of projects that are critical to keeping water in the Colorado River Basin, including protecting tribal rights, water rights and helping farmers and ranchers responsibly conserve water.

Conservation efforts

Lee said she is proud of the water conservation efforts of Southern Nevadans, saying that they understood how precious these efforts are, and that's why Southern Nevada has become an international leader in water conservation.

“We can set all the conservation goals we want,” Lee said. “But it really takes our residents to raise their hands and step up and implement those water conservation measures.”

Nevada receives the smallest share of the Colorado River allocation every year — just 2 percent — and Lee says the limitations of this resource have made Nevadans water conservation pioneers.

“Southern Nevada is one of the few places on the face of the planet that recycles every drop of water that goes down the drain,” Lee said.

These water recycling efforts are made in part by the SNWA’s Alfred Merritt Smith Water Treatment Facility, which has the capacity to treat 600 million gallons of water a day, according to Pellegrino.

The facility has been able to ensure that Nevada has “world-class water treatment” because it receives funds from the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, which specifies that 10 percent of all funding be given to the SNWA.

“Southern Nevadans are continuing to explore and expand the frontiers of what sustainable water conservation looks like in the 21st century,” Cortez Masto said.