Water "banking" agreements that will give the region access to water in the future helped push the Southern Nevada Water Authority budget to $642 million for the fiscal year starting July 1, up $165 million over this year.
The Water Authority board approved the budget, which includes a $100 million payment to Arizona as part of an deal in which the neighboring state will save 1.25 million acre-feet against Nevada's future needs.
The budget also includes $59 million the Water Authority will pay to the regional distributors for recharging water into the ground in Clark County, a move that will bank about 280,000 acre-feet.
The region collectively uses about 300,000 acre-feet annually, almost all from the Colorado River reservoir at Lake Mead.
The budget also includes 23 new positions to be added to the 283 employees now working for the Water Authority.
Pat Mulroy, Water Authority general manager, said the new positions are needed to deal with issues related to years of drought, a problem that has threatened the region's primary water supply. The drought has forced the agency to look at legal and political solutions in interstate discussions on the future of the Colorado River and to engineering to blunt the potential impact of the drought on Lake Mead, she said.
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