Colorado River Transfers and Exchanges

In concept, water transfers involve moving water resources from willing sellers to willing buyers. There are a variety of ways in which transfers and exchanges can occur in the future:

Seawater Desalination Exchanges

In recent years, there have been many significant advances associated with seawater desalination, making it a potentially viable future water resource.

Should Southern Nevada participate in the desalination process, any water obtained would be in the form of an exchange, not a pipeline. For example, Southern Nevada could pay California or Mexico to construct and operate desalination facilities in exchange for an equivalent portion of their Colorado River water at Lake Mead.

However, several challenges including the permitting process, environmental concerns (power generation and brine disposal), access to coastal property and existing treaties make this a long-term resource option.

Also, because desalinated water would be exchanged for Colorado River water, supply shortages associated with drought conditions are left unresolved. Therefore, the region's dependency on Colorado River water would actually increase at a time when the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) and other users are exploring ways to reduce their demands on the river.

Meanwhile, SNWA is very interested in participating in a partnership that would allow it to access water from the Yuma Desalting Facility, which would treat brackish groundwater in the Yuma, Ariz. area. The SNWA also continues to explore the feasibility of ocean desalination with other municipal Colorado River users within the United States and Mexico.

Transfer of Conserved or Tribal Water

This option includes water conserved through a verifiable water conservation program or through fallowing agricultural land with a recent history of use. The conserved water could be leased with the terms and conditions to be negotiated at the time of the lease.