GROUNDWATER PUMPING: Pipeline obstacle looming - News

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Jun. 02, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

GROUNDWATER PUMPING: Pipeline obstacle looming

Water board seeks hearing on Snake Valley watershed

By HENRY BREAN
REVIEW-JOURNAL

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Southern Nevada Water Authority officials have requested a state hearing on the final piece of a massive pipeline project they plan to build to tap groundwater from across eastern Nevada.

And they may have saved the most difficult part for last.

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The authority is seeking state permission to pump as much as 16 billion gallons of water a year from White Pine County's Snake Valley, more than 250 miles north of Las Vegas.

The vast and sparsely populated watershed on the Nevada-Utah border is home to many of the authority's harshest critics, including ranch families who have lived in the area for generations.

"We know there are a lot of very vocal people who live in Snake Valley. We've seen that in the other hearings," said Kay Brothers, deputy general manager for the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Snake Valley stretches into Utah and includes Nevada's only national park, so the authority also can count on a bitter fight from conservationists and Utah officials when the hearing is held.

"It should be contentious," said Jo Anne Garrett, who has lived just outside the Snake Valley community of Baker for almost 40 years.

In a letter sent last week to State Engineer Tracy Taylor, the Southern Nevada Water Authority requested a hearing "as soon as possible" on its nine applications for groundwater in Snake Valley.

The applications are for the use of more than 50,000 acre-feet of water a year, enough when stretched through reuse to supply more than 170,000 homes.

Taylor will have final say over how much groundwater, if any, the authority can safely pump from Snake Valley to supply growth in Southern Nevada.

"Obviously, I think we'll get some water," Brothers said. "There's quite a bit of unappropriated water in Snake Valley, so I can't imagine we won't get some water."

Taylor's review process will begin July 15 with a half-day administrative hearing in Carson City to establish procedures and document-filing deadlines for a larger hearing later this year or early next year.

Susan Joseph-Taylor, chief hearing officer for the Nevada Division of Water Resources, described the meeting in July as a "planning session."

Garrett has been fighting the pipeline since it was first proposed almost 20 years ago.

In the early 1990s, she spearheaded a sales tax initiative that is still helping to fund White Pine County's opposition to the project.

Despite all that history, Garrett said, the call for a hearing on Snake Valley caught her off guard.

"This announcement is very sudden and unexpected," Garrett said. "It seems like kind of a rush."

She thinks the state should delay any action at least until a federal environmental review of the pipeline project can be completed.

That process is now under way.

Authority officials insist they already have enough water to justify construction of the pipeline network, which is expected to cost $2 billion to $3.5 billion.

Following a hearing in 2006, Taylor granted the authority permission to eventually pump nearly 20 billion gallons a year from nearby Spring Valley, also in White Pine County.

Then in February, the state's top water regulator held a hearing on the authority's plans to pump more than 11 billion gallons of groundwater a year from three valleys in central Lincoln County. Taylor is expected to rule on that part of the project in the coming months.

The authority's Snake Valley applications represent the last piece of the pipeline puzzle.

Before that hearing is held, Brothers said the authority will hold talks with the Department of Interior over a stipulation agreement similar to ones reached for the other watersheds targeted by the pipeline.

Shortly before the two previous state hearings, federal agencies agreed to drop their protests in exchange for assurances that the proposed groundwater pumping won't harm sensitive wildlife and fragile habitat in those areas.

Garrett said it "will be interesting to see" whether federal officials are willing to strike the same sort of deal in a valley that is home to Great Basin National Park.

At the very least, Garrett said, she expects the National Park Service to voice some concerns.

Garrett also expects Snake Valley's neighbors to the east to come out swinging when the hearing is finally held.

"I think the growing intent in Utah is not to take this lying down," she said.

Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. Vegas wrote on June 03, 2008 02:20 PM: Remember: What's approved for Vegas stays in Vegas just say no wrote on June 02, 2008 07:53 PM: There are cities in the Middle East, such as Riyadh and Dubai, you know those people we call cavemen/terrorists, that get all their water from desalinization. This is not 1928 and we don't have to create another Owens Valley situation and destroy the Great Basin. This is the 21st century. Wake up and get with the times!!!! And to those complaining about growth, it's California's fault were running out of water not Vegas. And Vegas actually sprawls less (and uses less water) than any other American city of 2 million or more. Look at a satellite photo if you don't believe me. Kyle wrote on June 02, 2008 04:09 PM: Someday people will wake up and realize they live in a desert, it has been here for thousands of years before, as it will be thousands of years after us... Either we live in harmony with it or we wither away from wasting that precious resource which is water. Bob wrote on June 02, 2008 03:50 PM: Anti-growth types such as the other posters here should consider the stagnation and despair that exists in areas that have no growth. Vegas is the shining success story in this country because it embraces growth. Compare this to places like Detroit and Portland where central-planning big government types have destroyed growth, liberty and prosperity for the sake of their controlling natures. 2zero wrote on June 02, 2008 03:01 PM: There is water.... SNWA used a "witching stick"! True story Pat Mullroy walked the desert until she got wet between her legs. Matt wrote on June 02, 2008 02:36 PM: This is crazy. Here is an idea. Why dont we just let California appropriate Las Vegas and leave the rest of Nevada the hell alone. It seems the water athority only has one thing on their mind. More water. How about less growth dumb asses. roger wrote on June 02, 2008 01:06 PM: 2zero is correct, stop the growth, now! These developers don't give a hoot about the future of this city, trust me, when the 'well runs dry' for them they will be outta here so fast our heads will spin. Let's be responsible here and do the right thing for the mjority, the residents, rather than the rich few. The answer to many of this cities problems are obvious, stop the building immediately...the water issue will be addressed and maybe some of the vacant and unsold homes will actually disappear. Tina larson wrote on June 02, 2008 10:38 AM: There is not a magic line on the Utah Nevada boarder that will stop us from draining the water table in Utah if we tap into that water table, Also where do the land owners rights in that valley end and our rights begin? Just because the majority of people want to take that water does not make it legal. We used to have rights in this country that majority rule could not infringe on. The Nevada water authority has taken a page form the books of the anti pipeline folks and complained Utah only wants that water for growth along the I-15 corridor in Utah. Why is it ok for Nevada and not Utah? Desalination can be done mainstream, several islands (Aruba) have done this for decades. If California did that their would be no need for a pipeline, we give them the ocean water and send them less from Lake Mead. LittleBird wrote on June 02, 2008 09:56 AM: Why don't we build a desalination plant for Chochella and the Empirial Valley, and Vegas use the water from the Colorada River?It makes more sense than draining another resource dry. better idea wrote on June 02, 2008 09:46 AM: Pump water from coyote springs. You know, that well connected oasis in the desert. Read All Comments