What's swimming in my glass? The debate over the Southern Nevada Water Authority's use of the return flow credit policy

Currently the Southern Nevada Water Authority uses an existing federal policy of return flow credits to divert water from Lake Mead above the annual allocation authorized by the Colorado River System Water Use Agreement. Credits obtained by the return of treated effluent allow water officials to divert as much Colorado River water as is needed to sustain current growth and development here in southern Nevada. Some in the community believe that this is a prudent use of a valuable resource; others that it is a means to justify the over-consumption of water and is altering the watershed in potentially harmful ways. This thesis will discuss this issue and the concept of 'civic environmentalism.' What I call A-I-D (assess-involve-develop) is offered as a new ethic for creating a more sustainable environmental policy. But equally important, is the need to politically engage this growing community in the policymaking process.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Political Science

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

2003

Author dc:creator

• Ferguson, Patrick L

Contributors dc:contributor

• Craig Walton

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/1591

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-2590