Try for rural water draws foes

Thursday, July 15, 2004 | 10:50 a.m.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority's plans to develop ground water sources in rural Nevada this week took hits on two fronts.

Environmentalists slammed ongoing discussions between the water authority and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on putting wells to monitor the effect of ground water use in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, north of Las Vegas.

Another group, including environmentalists and rural residents, criticized provisions of the proposed Lincoln County Land Act that would give the water authority rights-of-way to build pipelines to bring rural water to Las Vegas.

"Before the (water) exportation project is expedited by congressional legislation there should be an independent study on the entire state's water needs and supply options," representatives from 22 environmental, sporting and political groups wrote about the Lincoln County act to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. and the rest of the state's congressional delegation. "The decision on granting utility corridors (for water pipelines) should be based on the results of the hydrologic studies and environmental reviews of whether water is available for export without serious impacts on existing users and the environment."

The water authority hopes to double the amount of water coming to Las Vegas through the rural wells. Agency officials also argue that the five-year drought has shown the danger of relying on the Colorado River for about 90 percent of local water needs.

Environmentalists, however, are leery of the plans. Jan Gilbert, Northern Nevada coordinator for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, said there are "so many problems with this bill."

"What they are doing is going and having the federal government telling Nevada how to handle this situation," Gilbert said. "We're going to be required to give the pipelines before the applications (for groundwater wells) are even approved. There should be a study first to see if there is even enough water to bring to Las Vegas.

"Las Vegas needs to maintain the homes they have, but there is water for that," Gilbert said. "This is about growth, and I believe uncontrolled growth... We really question the emergency. They're using the drought to say we need it right now."

Other groups that signed the Lincoln County land act letter include Nevada and Eastern California chapters of the Sierra Club, Citizen Alert and the Great Basin chapter of Trout Unlimited.

Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen noted that the Lincoln County act was a collaborative effort of the entire five-member congressional delegation, and was introduced by Sen. John Ensign, Reid's Republican counterpart. She said environmentalists were included in public hearings during the drafting of the bill.

"Everyone should be reassured that this is a fair and balanced bill," Hafen said. "Sen. Reid and the rest of the delegation worked significantly with many environmental groups. He recognizes that they are not entirely happy, but hopes they recognize that legislation is a compromise."

Lincoln County represents a special challenge for land management because 98 percent of the county is owned by the federal government, she said.

Although the letter asked for hearings in Nevada on the bill, Hafen noted that there were two public meetings in Lincoln County on the legislation last year.

"This has been an open and fair process all along," she said. "It's disingenuous for a group to say they weren't included when they didn't take the opportunity to come to a meeting."

There will be a hearing in the House next week on the bill and there is another scheduled for the Senate in September, she said.

The Defenders of Wildlife and the Wilderness Society, both national environmental groups, weighed on in the associated issue of monitoring wells in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. The water authority needs the monitoring wells to prove that its proposed pumping from wells in and near the refuge will not harm the environment or other existing water users.

The water authority and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which did not return phone calls Wednesday, have engaged in a series of meetings on the proposed monitoring wells. They have opened up the process for environmentalists to attend, but not yet for public comment.

"It is not sufficient for FWS (the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) to offer vague commitments that the public will be allowed to comment in some undefined way and at some undefined time after a negotiated settlement has been reached with the SNWA," the authors said in their letter to the water authority and fish and wildlife service. "Such an approach is certain to shut the public out of any meaningful role."

Brian Segee, counsel for the Defenders of Wildlife in Washington, said the concern is that the deal to place monitoring wells will be done largely behind closed doors and will help the water authority's long term plans to put wells to bring groundwater to Las Vegas.

"The main point is to interject some public participation in the process," he said. "It has been pretty much a behind-closed-door process to this point.

"We have a bottom-line opposition to groundwater production on the desert refuge," Segee said. "That shouldn't be mistaken for a blanket opposition to Southern Nevada and Las Vegas development water resources, but the Desert National Wildlife Refuge should be the last resort. Instead, it is one of the first places they are looking."

Vince Alberta, water authority spokesman, said his agency wants to conduct business in plain view.

"Since they (the environmentalists) have expressed their interest in participating in meetings regarding monitoring wells on the desert refuge, they have been involved," Alberta said.

He said the monitoring wells are needed to better understand the way water moves through the ground in the rural areas, to determine how much water is there, and "to put an early warning system to see if there is any adverse impact."

"You don't know until you have monitoring wells," Alberta said.

The argument is valid for either letter, Alberta said.

"Their core concern is really the impact groundwater pumping will have on those basins," he said of the rural areas.