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The distinctive “bathtub ring” pattern left by falling water levels in Lake Mead.
Conserving a Crucial Water Source: John Entsminger of the Southern Nevada Water Authority
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evada is allotted only 1.8 percent of the Colorado River water used by the seven Colorado basin states and Mexico, but it is perhaps the state most reliant on its allotment. This comparatively small amount of water is the predominant water source for the Las Vegas Valley, where most of the state’s population lives. The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), the region’s water wholesaler, has responded to this predicament with aggressive water conservation efforts. It also played a major part in Nevada’s negotiation of the Drought Contingency Plan (DCP), the seven-state agreement that was just signed into federal law. In this interview, SNWA General Manager John Entsminger speaks with Irrigation Leader Managing Editor Joshua Dill about the new DCP legislation and what comes next. Joshua Dill: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
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Joshua Dill: Please tell us about SNWA. John Entsminger: SNWA has seven member agencies, all of them water and wastewater utilities in southern Nevada. The region that we cover is essentially the Las Vegas Valley and some of the outlying areas of Clark County. Those seven utilities provide retail water and sewer services to 2.2 million people. We are responsible for the water supply of 76 percent of the population of the state of Nevada. SNWA is a wholesale agency. We build all the regional facilities, pump the water out of Lake Mead and treat it, and then deliver it at turnouts to the retail agencies. We coordinate regional conservation plans and we ensure the sustainability of the natural resources that we rely upon. We do all the resource planning for the region to ensure a 50-year water supply every year.
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John Entsminger: SNWA did on-campus interviews during my third year of law school at the University of Colorado Boulder and ultimately selected me. I moved from Boulder to Las Vegas in 1999 to be SNWA’s environmental compliance and water resources attorney.
I spent about 10 years in the general counsel’s office, working on in-state water resource issues, Environmental Protection Agency issues, Endangered Species Act issues, and Colorado River negotiations. In 2010, the then general manager asked me to move out of legal and onto the executive team. When she retired in 2014, the board of directors selected me to be the general manager of SNWA.
