More than 80 years ago, seven western states hammered out a pact dividing up the water in the Colorado River. Agriculture was king and Las Vegas just a railroad watering stop in the middle of nowhere. Today, after an eight-year drought, the river is in crisis. Tim Folger traveled from its snow-fed headwaters to the feeble trickle that enters the Gulf of California, asking everyone he met: What comes next?  Read more…

A conservation group sued the Interior Department on Thursday seeking documents about decisions on endangered species the group alleges were tainted by political pressure from a former high-ranking Interior official.  Read more…

Think of the geology beneath the Great Basin as a giant sponge. Mother Nature drizzles water into it in the form of rain and snow. The water creeps below ground from valley to valley in a huge regional aquifer that extends from Salt Lake City to Death Valley.  Read more…

Dr. James Deacon, a biologist and Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies and Biological Sciences at UNLV, and his colleagues recently addressed the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s (SNWA) plan to tap eastern Nevada ground water and pipe it to the Las Vegas area in the September 2007 issue (volume 57, issue 8) of BioScience Magazine.  Read more…

Draining aquifers for Vegas development would endanger species, he says

Nevada’s water laws contradict the laws of nature, a prominent Nevada biologist says. And if water officials back a pipeline proposal to nurture Las Vegas growth at the expense of surrounding states, a water war and ecological disaster are guaranteed.  Read more…

There’s no such thing as “surplus water.”

It might be described that way by Southern Nevada Water Authority officials when they apply for permission to tap into the state’s rural water supply, said James Deacon, a professor emeritus of environmental studies at UNLV.  Read more…