George overrules decision on Fallon water release

Friday, May 30, 1997 | 11:44 a.m.

"None of us want an unnecessary problem to arise that would be damaging to property," U.S. District Judge Lloyd George rule in Las Vegas following a telephone conference call.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation gave the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District permission April 29 to spread excess water on lands without charging it against the allocations held by water rights owners.

It rescinded that approval after the Pyramid Lake Tribe opposed the free deliveries and how they were implemented.

"It wasn't too appealing to us because you can't make a decision without first consulting all the affected parties," tribal Chairman Mervin Wright told the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard.

Wright said the tribe is not opposed to spreading water from the reservoir when there is a definite threat of flooding, but said the situation this year had not reached emergency levels.

Wright argued that giving the water away amounted to a violation of the Alpine and Orr Ditch decrees that govern use of the water on the Carson and Truckee rivers.

The reservoir already is about 27,000 acre-feet above its 295,000 acre-foot capacity with the excess water being held back by flashboards stretched atop Lahontan Dam.

The judge's order lets the irrigation district release water into the Newlands Project system without charging it against annual allocations.

The water squabble irritated Assemblywoman Marcia de Braga, D-Fallon, who called the Bureau of Reclamation's decision to shut off the release of water senseless, since it was only going to be dumped in the desert.

"Water can't be returned upstream, so why waste it?" she asked. "Someone has got to stop this riding roughshod over people."