Time delay and lens redshift for the doubly imaged BAL quasar SBS 1520+530

We present optical R-band light curves of the gravitationally lensed quasar SBS 1520+530 derived from data obtained at the Nordic Optical Telescope. A time delay of 130 +/- 3 days (1sigma) is determined from the light curves. In addition, spectra of SBS 1520+530 obtained at the Keck Observatory are spatially deconvolved in order to extract the spectrum of the faint lensing galaxy, free of any contamination by the light from the bright quasar images. This spectrum indicates a lens redshift z = 0.717, in agreement with one of the absorption systems found in the quasar spectra. The best mass model of the system includes a second nearby galaxy and a cluster of galaxies in addition to the main lensing galaxy. Adopting this model and an Omega = 0.3, Lambda = 0.7 cosmology, our time-delay measurement yields a Hubble constant of H-0 = 51 +/- 9 km s(-1) Mpc(-1) (1sigma error).