Lincoln County, Mesquite water hearing begins

Tuesday, May 14, 2002 | 9:41 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Big money is riding on the outcome of a water war between Lincoln County and its private partner on one side, and Mesquite, one of the fastest growing cities in the state, on the other.

Lincoln County and Vidler Water Co., Inc., could realize more than $23 million if state Engineer Hugh Ricci approves their application to drill and pump 7,000 acre feet a year to a proposed power plant in the southern part of the county.

An acre-foot of water is enough to supply a family of five for a year.

The county and Vidler have a contract to charge $3,200 an acre-foot to Toquop Energy, a subsidiary of Cogentrix Energy of North Carolina. The utility plans a $650 million generating plant and would be able to use the water for 42 years.

But the Virgin Valley Water District, which serves Mesquite and agricultural interests in Clark and Lincoln counties, says the use would hurt others and the application should be denied.

A three-day hearing began this morning in Carson City before hearing officer Susan Joseph Taylor, who says Lincoln-Vidler is expected to call up to 18 witnesses. The Virgin Valley Water District will have seven or eight witnesses, she said.

The underground water would be drawn from the Tule Desert Groundwater Basin, about 90 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The basin measures 32 miles long and 12 miles wide, and the water flows south to the Virgin Valley. Test wells have been drilled to evaluate how much water is available.

This is another chapter by Lincoln County, one of the poorest counties in the state, and Vidler to develop and sell the county's water and split the profits 50-50. Fighting the plan are urban interests that want enough water to serve the growing population of Southern Nevada.

Lincoln and Vidler already have butted heads with the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which wants to tap into in rural Nevada water resources to supply the growing population in the Las Vegas area.

Lincoln County officials say it is their water and they should be able to do with it as they please. The Virgin Valley Water District says the water belongs to the entire state.

Pre-filed testimony and documents reach opposite conclusions on the impact of the Lincoln-Vidler application.

Frank Lewis, senior hydrogeologist for Ch2mhill of Englewood, Colo., says his research shows that pumping the 7,000-acre feet a year will lower the water table about 1.5 miles from the edge of the well field.

But Lewis said there would not be any change in the water available or the level of the water table in the Virgin River Valley. He estimates 3 million acre feet of water are stored in the upper levels in the Virgin River Valley. Even if the water were pumped directly from that source, it would have little impact, he said.

But hydro geologist Terry Kitschier of Reno, geologist Gary Dixon of Blackfoot, Idaho, and Michael Johnson, chief hydrogeologist for the Virgin Valley Water District, reach a different conclusion.

In their report, they said water from the Tule Desert supplies a "considerable part of the lower Virgin River Basin."