Tribe set to receive water for Las Vegas-area resort

Wednesday, June 20, 2001 | 11:06 a.m.

The Las Vegas Paiute Tribe would get 4,000 acre feet of water -- almost 1.3 billion gallons -- under an agreement approved Tuesday by the Clark County Commissioners.

The water is essential for continued development of the 4,000-acre resort the tribe has under construction.

The commissioners, acting as the Las Vegas Valley Water District board, approved the agreement between the water district and the tribe. The agreement must also be approved by the Southern Nevada Water Authority on Thursday.

The tribe already receives 2,000 acre feet of water per year under a 1996 settlement of a tribal claim to underground water in the valley. The additional 2,000 acre feet is needed for construction and use at the resort planned for the site in the northwest Las Vegas Valley.

David Donnelly, water deputy general manager, said the tribe will pay for installing the water lines from the Las Vegas water system and the annual cost of delivering the water.

Donnelly said the tribe can receive the water at cost until the system's water resources reach its limit, which he estimated would happen around 2017. After that, the tribe will have to buy water at market rates.

"The tribe has realized that to prosper it needed to diversify its economy," the tribe's general counsel David Colvin said. "From some time ago, the tribe realized it would go into the golf course and resort business."

When complete, the project on the land would include four golf courses, a resort-casino and other commercial properties. The tribe already has two golf courses and a clubhouse open.

The tribe broke ground on the $170 million expansion last year. Eventually, the tribe intends to spend $500 million on the project.

Commissioners Myrna Williams and Mary Kincaid-Chauncey said the agreement is a good example of local agencies working with the Paiute tribe.

While the tribe only has about 50 members, it is a government autonomous from other local and state agencies. Williams said working out the agreement with the tribe was akin to international negotiations.

"I think this probably is a precedent throughout the country" for local and tribal governments working together, Kincaid-Chauncey said. --