Authority says there’s plenty of rural water

Thursday, April 8, 2004 | 11:01 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Southern Nevada Water Authority says it has provided ample evidence that there is enough water to pump from rural valleys to serve the growing Las Vegas population without harming the natural resources in those areas.

The authority, in final written arguments submitted Wednesday by its lawyer, Paul Taggart, said the federal government has failed to show that wildlife refuges would be affected by the pumping of 17,000 acre-feet from valleys in Clark and Lincoln counties.

But Stephen Palmer, an attorney representing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management, urged state Engineer Hugh Ricci to "proceed with caution" in allowing any development of the ground water in these areas.

"Impacts are certain to occur, although exact magnitude and duration of the impacts are unknown," Palmer said. Once these impacts are detected, it will be too late to take corrective action, he said.

The written arguments were submitted to Ricci by the deadline Wednesday, and the state engineer has said he will make a decision by the end of the year. This is the first batch of a series of applications the water authority has filed to draw water from rural areas.

Taggart said there was "substantial evidence" that there are 19,500 acre-feet of water available in the Tikapoo and Three Lakes Valleys and other areas. Of that, 2,000 acre-feet have been appropriated leaving enough for the authority.

"There is no evidence the pumping of 17,000 acre-feet would conflict with existing water rights," Taggart said.

One concern by the federal government was the water level at Devil's Hole, the home of the endangered desert pupfish. If the water level drops there, it would threaten the existence of the pupfish.

"Frenchman's Flat lies between the Southern Nevada Water Authority's proposed pumping area and Devil's Hole," Taggart said. "The U.S. has pumped significant water resources at this location for the Nevada Test Site, and the National Park Service cannot point to any effect from the pumping on Devil's Hole."

Taggart criticized the government's position that there was not enough data available on the water resources in the area.

"This position stands in stark contrast to the position of the U.S. government that it has sufficient information in the same flow system to conclude that Yucca Mountain is a safe location to store nuclear waste and to its position that the ground water contaminants at the Nevada Test Site do not pose a threat to Devil's Hole or other water supplies off the Test Site," Taggart wrote.

Palmer, however, questioned the new increased estimates of the authority on the amount of water available in these areas. The government is worried about the potential impacts on critical environmental areas including Ash Meadows, Death Valley and Desert National Wildlife Refuge Area.

Palmer said the proposed pumping would affect the Corn Creek Spring discharge area within the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. And the authority failed to present evidence to show the impact will be delayed, Palmer said.

The federal government said the Water Authority during the public hearing last month changed the location of its proposed wells. He said there was no evidence presented to analyze what the new sites will do to the groundwater.

"By the time effects would be detected, it would be too late to provide any meaningful mitigation," Palmer said.

He said the concerns of the government "stem from obligations of the federal bureaus to protect the national areas to which they are responsible and the water rights and resources upon which those natural areas depend."