Lincoln County, Mesquite steam over water plans

Wednesday, March 13, 2002 | 8:55 a.m.

Lincoln County and Mesquite-area officials clashed Tuesday over the county's water-for-cash plans, with both sides sticking to their established positions.

Lincoln County and its partner, Vidler Water Co., want to pump 7,000 acre-feet per year to a planned power plant just north of the Clark County line. Officials for Mesquite's water service, the Virgin Valley Water District, fear wells supplying that water will drain ground-water resources from their town.

The meeting Tuesday at McCarran International Airport was the latest in a series between the opposing sides. Lincoln County-Vidler has applied for the rights to pump and use the water. Virgin Valley has protested the application, which is now in the hands of the Nevada state engineer.

State Engineer Hugh Ricci is scheduled to have a hearing on the issue in May and could make his final judgment later this year. Despite requests from Vidler staffers at the Tuesday meeting, Virgin Valley General Manager Michael Winters said his agency isn't likely to withdraw the agency's protest.

He said the Tule Desert -- the would-be source for water to the planned water-cooled power plant -- might be able to provide 7,000 acre-feet per year, but that level of water use could dry up wells that serve Mesquite.

One acre-foot of water is 326,000 gallons, or about enough water for a typical family of five for a year.

"We don't know what the impact is going to be," Winters said. "We concur that maybe there is 7,000 acre-feet there, but how much is coming down here? We know the flow is coming this way."

Virgin Valley has completed its study of the hydrology of the area. Vidler also is preparing its own study, but has yet to release the results.

Vidler executives have said, however, that they believe there is more than enough water to serve the power plant. The Tule Desert basin and nearby basins also have enough water to serve a proposed 50,000-home development to the east of the planned power plant closer to Mesquite, Vidler President Dorothy Timian-Palmer said.

Timian-Palmer at times sharply rebuked Virgin Valley staffers and their allies on this issue from the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which provides water to Las Vegas, Laughlin and most of Clark County.

"It is not your decision what Lincoln County does with its water," she said.

Winters responded that the water in question is not Lincoln County's alone, but all residents of the state.

Mesquite's worries are focused on the power plant question. But the Southern Nevada Water Authority is concerned with the long-term access to groundwater throughout Lincoln County.

Both the Southern Nevada Water Authority and Vidler-Lincoln County have competing applications for tens of thousands of acre-feet throughout the region.

Timian-Palmer questioned the presence of the Southern Nevada Water Authority at the open, public meeting.

"We're responding to the tremendous growth along the I-15 corridor," Kay Brothers, Water Authority resource director, said. The authority wants to ensure water is put to its most beneficial use, she added.

"We don't think a beneficial use is a water-cooled power plant," Brothers said.

Water-cooled, natural-gas-burning power plants use many times the water that similarly sized air-cooled plants use. Vidler-Lincoln County is backing the water-cooled design by North Carolina-based Cogentrix.

Providing that power plant with water could gross the partnership about $22 million. Actual profits would be split between Vidler and Lincoln County after paying for wells, pumps, a pipeline and other costs.

Frustrated Virgin Valley officials said they are willing to pump a much smaller volume of water needed for an air-cooled plant. Vidler officials didn't immediately respond to the offer at the meeting.

But Timian-Palmer criticized the Southern Nevada Water Authority for backing a water-cooled plant in the Moapa Valley.

Brothers said the 4,600 acre-feet for the Meadow Valley Generating Station planned by PG&E National Energy Group was already appropriated.

However, Water Authority officials have said that in the future the agency will oppose water-cooled power plants.

The battle over water was to continue today in Carson City. A court was to hear Vidler's arguments that the state attorney general and Clark County district attorney have no right to review the Vidler-Lincoln County partnership for legality.

The attorney general's office, at the request of the district attorney, is investigating whether the 1999 partnership between the county and the private company improperly gives away government authority. Vidler and Lincoln County filed suit Friday to stop the inquiry.