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Could ocean desalination help solve Las Vegas’ water woes?
It might

Carlsbad desalination plant’s intake lagoon is visible on the right and the discharge canal on the left, Dec. 2, 2025, in Carlsbad, Calif. (AP Photo / Annika Hammerschlag, File)

By Alan Halaly, Las Vegas Review-Journal. May 23, 2026 – 6:30 am, Updated May 23, 2026 – 8:07 am

Southern Nevada is now looking to the Pacific Ocean to ease its water woes.

In a vote Thursday, the Southern Nevada Water Authority board approved a memorandum of understanding that allows General Manager John Entsminger to hammer out a first-of-its-kind water transfer deal with the San Diego County Water Authority. In a region where growth could outpace permanent water supplies in the next few decades, that matters.

The terms are far from certain. But California would leave water in Lake Mead that Nevada could use in exchange for compensation; California would fill that gap with ocean water treated by the Carlsbad Desalination Plant.

“It’s a pellet of the silver buckshot, but it’s not a silver bullet,” said Entsminger, in a Monday interview.

Entsminger declined to share how much water Southern Nevada could stand to gain, saying that the number could vary year to year depending on the changing water demands of San Diego County.

The annual capacity of the plant is 56,000 acre-feet per year, said Dan Denham, general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority, in an interview. Within existing permits, that figure could grow to 62,000 acre-feet per year if one of the interested states helps fund the plant’s expansion, he said.

An acre-foot of water, roughly 351,850 gallons, is enough to serve two single-family homes for a year, by most estimates.

Nevada’s full yearly allocation from the Colorado River — the smallest of any state — is 300,000 acre-feet. Last year, after cashing in credits from water recycling, Nevada’s consumptive use came in at 198,000 acre-feet in total, a number that only represents water that wasn’t returned to Lake Mead.

Under a current proposal from the Lower Basin states of Nevada, California and Arizona, the Las Vegas metro area could voluntarily give up at least 50,000 acre-feet or as much as 100,000 acre-feet of its water in both 2027 and 2028.

Denham said his agency is equipped to eventually pass off all of the plant’s water via a water transfer if a deal surfaces, but the volume of water that could be included depends on several factors, including the length of the agreement. Arizona officials are in early talks to benefit from some of the water, too.

Negotiations shouldn’t take more than a year, Denham estimates, though how current interstate talks go as the federal government prepares to intervene in a seven-state deadlock could dictate the speed.

Continue/Read Original Article: Southern Nevada ocean desalination deal with San Diego County moves forward | Environment | News