LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Locals know the city's water source is the Colorado River. So, what's at stake?
The Colorado River Water Users Conference at the Paris Hotel is tackling how to protect this valuable resource.
States, including Nevada, which use water from the river, met to discuss how to manage it in the future, but coming to an agreement hasn't been easy.
Impact of years of drought
I have met people like Boulder City resident Ross Angel who said he sees the impact first hand.
Joe Moeller: What have you noticed?
Ross Angel: It is just going down, down, down.
WATCH: 'We're dealing with a crisis': How the straining of the Colorado River System impacts us
States relying on the river are working on a plan for drier years—a plan to manage less water in the river after 2026.
Who would those changes impact?
Seven states use the river:
The upper basin states— Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico
The lower basin states— Nevada, Arizona and California
Representatives from both basins debated the issue at Thursday's conference. Representatives from the lower basin said their idea shares future, possibly needed water cuts.
Here is what JB Hamey representing California had to say on those potential cuts:
It is not easy to do hard things, particularly for the first time and what we have developed in California and throughout the lower basin, I think in many ways, provides a great foot-up blueprint for adaptation to the future ware going to have to contend with the only question is are we going to work together to do it or do we want to wear jerseys and be at odds.
John Entsminger of Southern Nevada Water Authority said a compromise is possible.
People from the upper basin also met. Some proposals look different, as the upper basin states do not have to cut as much water.
Becky Mitchell is from the Colorado River Commission in Colorado:
It isn’t about who takes all the cuts and who doesn’t that is what we are asking to be acknowledging the cuts that are happening, acknowledging what is happening everyday then we can be there together.
How states are preparing for potential cuts
I talked with Entsminger from the Southern Nevada Water Authority. He said parts of different proposals could be combined.
"There are areas of agreement in all of the plans, so it is kind of putting those pieces together," Entsminger said.
He told me for now, people in Southern Nevada conserve enough to be okay with cuts in the proposed plans— but they want to prepare for the future.
"The point is you want to protect the legal entitlements, you want to make sure three, four generations we are protecting the rights of future Nevadans."
What now?
When a plan could be in place is still up in the air as the federal government still needs to consider alternative plans, but all states agreed conversations is the best method in managing the river in the future.
Here is a recap of day one of the conference in Las Vegas: