Lake Mead Az

Snow, big run-off celebrated in water-hungry West

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Communities below the snow-capped mountains of the West are bracing against the swelling rivers and flooding that come with the spring thaw. In the drought-ravaged cities of the Southwest, however, the deluge is cause for celebration.

There will be more water for Nevada, California and Arizona this year, sparing them from having to take emergency measures, such as water rationing, for at least another three years.

The three states can thank the heavy and, in some cases, unprecedented snowpack in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. The ripe June sun is sending snowmelt into the Colorado River, its tributaries and Lake Mead, the nation's largest reservoir located outside Las Vegas.

"This is obviously really welcome, great news," said Jeffrey Kightlinger, CEO of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves 19 million people. "It's been a godsend."

The water comes at a crucial time for the Southwest. After 10 years of receding water levels that threatened a regional water shortage, this year's melting snows are expected to grow Lake Mead, the chief source of water for the three states and Mexico, by 40 feet or more.

The jubilation in California, Arizona and Nevada is not a case of wishing neighbors ill, only the reality of nature's polarizing impact in the water-poor West. Brutal, prolonged winters in the north produce robust, life-giving water flows in the south.

That cycle had been disrupted for more than a decade as one dry winter after another emptied Lake Mead, which sits on the Nevada-Arizona border and was formed in 1935 after the construction of Hoover Dam. Mead and Lake Powell upstream are the major water storage facilities in the system.

Roughly 96 percent of Mead's water comes from melted snow in the upper Colorado River basin states: Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming.

By November 2010, the water in the reservoir had fallen to 1,081 elevation feet, a historic low and a mere six feet above the point that would trigger a large reduction of Arizona and Nevada's share of the Colorado River.

If that trend had continued, Arizona and Nevada could have had to begin water rationing this year.

That outlook changed during late winter as snowstorms blanketed Western mountains from the Rockies to the Sierra Nevada.

By June, there was more cumulative snow than ever in the upper basin states that feed into the Colorado River, said Kevin Werner, a hydrologist for the National Weather Service's Colorado Basin River Forecast Center.

PWC Operator Dies On Lake Mead | AZ-Independent

PWC Operator Dies On Lake Mead

An out-of-state resident died Saturday after possibly suffering a medical event while operating a personal watercraft at Lake Mead. National Park Service (NPS) rangers responded at 10:00 a.m. to a report that a man fell into the water at Hemenway Harbor.

“Members of the man’s group pulled him out of the water, began CPR and transported him to shore by boat,” said NPS spokesman Andrew Munoz. He said park medics who met the group took over and that a 36-minute CPS effort restored the vital signs of the victim who was flown to a hospital.

“However, at about 12:00 p.m. the 51-year-old Colorado man was pronounced dead at the hospital,” Munoz said. “From witness reports, investigators believe the man man have suffered a heart attack while jet-skiing.”

The exact cause of death is to be determined by the Clark County Medical Examiner’s office. The victim’s name was initially withheld, pending notification of kin.

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