Settlement, Growth, and Water Security for Southwest Cities - Design with the Desert: Conservation and Sustainable Development - page 451

FIGURE 26.9
San Juan Chama Azotea tunnel outlet. (Courtesy of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.)
In the 1960s, the Bureau of Reclamation established the San Juan-Chama water diver-
sion project to bring much needed water to the growing New Mexico region. The City of
Albuquerque was awarded about 48,000 ac ft per year from the diversion project. The water
was channeled through 26 miles of tunnels, across the Continental Divide, and into the El
Vado and Abiquiu reservoirs. The traditional water plan called for the use of groundwater
pumping with the release of San Juan-Chama water from the reservoirs to enhance the
groundwater uptake (Figure 26.9).
26.6.3 Las Vegas
Las Vegas relies primarily on withdrawal of water from Lake Mead and pumping of
groundwater to support the city. Early settlements in the allocation of Colorado River
water left Nevada with a paltry sum of water in relation to the already developed neigh-
boring states of California and Arizona. At the time of the Colorado River Compact,
Nevada was a desolate state with little hope of supporting a significant urban population
and was only allocated an annual withdrawal allowance of 300,000 ac ft, compared to
Arizona's 2.8 million and California's 4.4 million ac ft (MAF). Today, the demographics
of the Southwest have shifted to a point where Nevada is now the fastest growing urban
population in the region. In addition, the natural rainfall of the region is the lowest of
any of the desert cities, thus limiting the ability of sustained reliance on groundwater
resources. Nevada has put forth a decade-old plan to allow the state to withdraw more
water from Lake Mead. Nevada argues that it has the surface water rights to 128,000 ac
ft from the Muddy and Virgin Rivers. The state feels that it has the right to recapture the
water from the reservoir instead of building expensive pipelines to transport the water
within the state. California and Arizona strongly object to this plan and the decision will
have to be made in Washington. In a recent agreement, Arizona will allow water-starved
Nevada to take as much as 1.25 MAF of Arizona's Colorado River allotment in exchange
for about $330 million. 6
On a large scale, Nevada has an uphill battle to find additional water resources to add
to its water portfolio to support current and future needs for development. Solutions
to augment Nevada's water supply have involved the funding of water conservation