Water fight develops between Clark, rural counties

Thursday, Feb. 11, 1999 | 11:28 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Representatives of three "cow counties" urged a Senate committee on Wednesday to allow their residents a chance to leapfrog over Southern Nevada's applications to pump water to Las Vegas from rural areas.

Ten years ago, water officials in Clark County filed applications to draw ground water from Nye, White Pine and Lincoln counties to be piped to Las Vegas, which is running out of water. The applications are still pending.

The three rural counties now want to change the law to say that if the water right application is still pending after five years, a resident of the county in which the claim is located could also file an application for use of the water, and the resident would have first rights.

Representatives of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the Colorado River Commission and State Engineer Mike Turnipseed opposed Senate Bill 108. The bill could open the door to water speculators in central Nevada, said Turnipseed, who rules on applications for water rights.

Steve Bradhurst, representing the three counties, said they want their citizens to be "able to jump over" the applications filed by Southern Nevada and get in the first position to use the water.

The applications have been in limbo for 10 years, noted Ray Flake, chairman of the Lincoln County Commission. Local residents should be permitted to move ahead of the Southern Nevada applications so "we can go on with our lives."

Everything "we do in the counties is based on water ... recreation, mining, tourism, ranching," Dick Carver, chairman of the Nye County Commission, said.

But Chris Weiss and Julie Wilcox, both of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, objected. Weiss read a statement from the Colorado River Commission that said the bill would set a "bad precedent" for the negotiations going on now for Southern Nevada to acquire more water from the Colorado River.

The state must show it is trying to solve its problems inside its borders, Weiss said, in order to successfully negotiate for water outside Nevada.

Southern Nevada has a water plan, said Wilcox, who was also representing the Las Vegas Valley Water District. Although the applications on rural water are "on the back burner," they are still an option, she said.

Clark County has relinquished its claims when approached by citizens from rural Nevada, she said. So far, three groups have asked to file claims on the water sought by Southern Nevada, and each time the plan was approved. The only thing required is that citizens get approval from their county, she said.

Turnipseed said he sees a "lot of problems" if the water law is changed now. The bill "flies in the face of the prior appropriation doctrine," he said.

There are "a lot of speculators in Central Nevada," he told the committee. They would be watching the clock and the minute the five-year time period expired, they would make an application.

This could affect not only Clark County but other cities and counties that draw water from basins outside their jurisdiction. Turnipseed said he would hate to see any applications "take a back seat" because he has not reached a final decision within five years.

There's a backlog of 3,200 applications.

One section of SB108 that was not controversial was a section that would require the state engineer, before granting a transfer of water between basins, to consider the future economic and environmental impact on the county where the water was located.

The bill was referred to a subcommittee of Sens. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, Mark James, R-Las Vegas and Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas.

Assemblyman Roy Neighbors, D-Tonopah, told the committee that he has a similar bill that he will introduce this week.

When the Southern Nevada applications were filed, there were 4,000 protests.