Panel begins quest for new water

Dan Kulin

Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2004 | 9:22 a.m.

Early steps toward identifying future water sources for Southern Nevada were taken Monday when a special committee of the Southern Nevada Water Authority met for the first of what is expected to be more than a year of monthly meetings.

The 29 members of the SNWA Integrated Water Planning Advisory Committee, who represent governments and special interest groups throughout the southern half of the state, are charged with forming recommendations for the Water Authority board regarding where to find additional water to sustain the Las Vegas area in future decades.

Possible solutions mentioned during the meeting included new wells to tap into additional ground-water supplies, conservation and reuse of water.

No decisions were made Monday, and committee members did not discuss the issues following an hourlong presentation on the five-year drought and the need for finding additional water sources aside from the Colorado River, which currently provides 90 percent of the water used in the Las Vegas area.

Dean Baker, a committee representative from White Pine County, said he thinks his Southern Nevada counterparts will surely go after underground water supplies in his area.

"I was told I would be a target, but I think I have a bull's-eye on me," Baker said. "It's going to be a long, interesting discussion."

On Aug. 19 the Water Authority board agreed to pay the Bureau of Land Management $4.5 million to supervise an environmental analysis of tapping into ground water in parts of central and Northern Nevada.

Water Authority spokesman Vince Alberta said it makes sense to move forward with that environmental analysis while the committee is looking into the matter because an environmental impact statement could take two years to finish.

Nye County Commission Vice Chairwoman Candice Trummell, who is not on the committee, criticized the committee for not also planning to discuss managing growth in the Las Vegas area.

"It's irresponsible to not even include growth management as an option," she said.

Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy said another committee, the county's Growth Task Force, is looking at growth-related issues, and this committee is looking for a plan to find more water, whatever happens. "We have to be ready to go," she said.