Las Vegas Sun

By Ed Koch

Lake Mead National Recreation Area was already being shortchanged by the federal government before the dropping water level made it even more expensive to maintain, some at the first Lake Mead Summit said Monday.

Several speakers painted a grim picture of a severely underfunded National Park Service staff at Lake Mead -- the fifth largest facility of its kind in the United States -- that is doing the best it can with limited resources and the loss of 47 jobs to budgetary constraints in the last two years.

Former congressman Jim Santini, legislative counsel for the National Tour Association, said the lake operates on a "a deficient annual operating budget."

"It is inconceivable that within the sphere of the fastest growing residential area in the U.S., the National Park Service budget for (Lake Mead) is less than any other NPS park in the Pacific Northwest region." Santini said.
The summit focused on resources and recreation use at the 1.5 million-acre area 30 miles east of Las Vegas. Among those attending the meeting at a golf clubhouse at the posh Lake Las Vegas development in Henderson was Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

She said the Bush Administration's $44 million allocation for Lake Mead since fiscal 2001 has been spent on 30 projects, and that $10 million more for the area is slated for fiscal 2005. She said millions of dollars are being spent to improve conditions at Lake Mead as part of a nationwide effort to stabilize historic buildings and repair crumbling roads.

She said federal dollars have been spent at the lake to repair or install boat launch lanes, replace worn-out sewage systems, bring the Willow Beach wastewater treatment facility into compliance and rehabilitate the four-mile Calville Bay road.

Norton said more money is being sought for parks on top of this year's record $1.8 billion park service budget for operations nationwide.

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., the host of the summit, said he has "very deep concerns for the future of Lake Mead."
"There has been a deterioration of funding and a deterioration of priority in tourism and preservation," he said.
He said he hopes to have a report from the gathering ready by this summer to present to the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee for possible legislation to obtain more funding to address the issues at Lake Mead.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Superintendent Bill Dickinson said more funding is needed in part because the drought that has lowered the lake from its capacity of 1,220 feet to 1,139 feet has been costly.

"It costs $5 million to $6 million to maintain the level of services for every 20-foot drop," Dickinson said, noting that a big part of that cost has been moving marinas and docks from sites that have been left high and dry.

And, he said, the lower the lake gets, the less money it makes. Calville Bay alone is losing $2 million a year in business at the receding lake that he said pumps $500 million to $1 billion annually into the local and regional economy, he said.

Kevin Bagger, director of Internet marketing and research for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, told the summit the lake is important to local tourism.

He told the gathering that 17 percent of the 35.5 million visitors to Las Vegas last year made trips outside the casino corridors. By far, Lake Mead and Hoover Dam were the most popular outside visited sites, accounting for 3.3 million tourists. The annual visitor volume at the lake is 8 million to 10 million people.

Porter said, "The drought has given the impression to many the lake is closed. We want to send the message that Lake Mead is open."

Porter said information gathered from the summit would be used as a "blueprint to address the serious challenge" of the five-year drought, water quality issues and access to the ever-shrinking lake that has ever-rising infrastructure costs.

Dickinson warned that while water quality currently is excellent, officials must address what effects future urban runoff and storm water will have on the washes and the lake.

Kay Brothers, deputy general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, agreed that drought and water quality need to be addressed.

"The Bureau of Reclamation in 2000 projected a zero probability that Lake Mead would be at 1,139 feet -- where we are now," Brothers said, noting that by next January the lake is expected to dip to 1,127 feet.

Brothers said that could result in higher water temperatures that could bring about a higher concentrations of contaminants, including pH and perchlorate.

Some of Southern Nevada's drinking water is drawn from the 1,050-foot level and at the lake's current level some of the warmer, less-clean surface-level runoff water could be drawn into the system, Brothers said.

To prevent that, the water authority is extending that pipeline down to the 1,000-foot elevation to draw in cooler, cleaner water, she said.

As far as improving the estimated $1 billion worth of infrastructure at the lake, Dickinson told the summit that an estimated $227 million will have to be spent in the next 10 years to keep up with needs. By comparison, in the last 10 years, $75 million was spent on infrastructure at the lake, he said.

As part of Monday's activities, Norton and Porter toured Lake Mead facilities. Among the stops was the Forever Earth floating environmental laboratory, a converted houseboat that is used as a science education tool.

The officials watched 15 students from the Helen Herr Elementary School conduct tests from aboard the vessel.
"I would say one of the most interesting things the children learned -- and I learned as well -- is that for every five gallons of Lake Mead water only five drops are drinkable," said Herr teacher Barbara Burns.

"I think it really hammered home to the kids that they shouldn't leave the water running when brushing their teeth or to otherwise waste water."