Flood a boon for Lake Mead
By HENRY BREAN, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
January 6, 2011 | 12:00 a.m. A flood that destroyed homes near Mesquite last month also delivered a welcome boost to Lake Mead. High flows on the Virgin River and its tributaries raised the level of the reservoir by about a foot and a half, according to rough projections from U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials. That might not sound like a lot, but a foot and a half of water spread across the surface of the nation’s largest man-made lake totals almost 150,000 acre-feet, enough to supply about 300,000 average homes for one year and half as much water as Nevada is allowed to take from the reservoir each year. Every foot of elevation counts right now at Lake Mead because it helps keep the surface of the drought-stricken reservoir above a federal shortage line that would force Nevada and Arizona to curtail their Colorado River use. The trigger point for that shortage declaration is 1,075 feet above sea level. When the rain began to fall in Southern Nevada on Dec. 17, the lake sat at elevation 1,083.8. By Dec. 26, it had risen to 1,086. Analysts think most of that water came in a rush down the Virgin River, which empties into the northern tip of Lake Mead, about 70 miles northeast of Las Vegas. “Every little bit helps,” said Rose Davis, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Reclamation in Boulder City. … The water level in Lake Mead has dropped about 130 feet since record drought took hold on the Colorado 11 years ago. Now water users are scrambling to find ways to keep Lake Mead from slipping below the 1,075 mark. …
