Assurance offered on water tap

Thursday, March 25, 2004 | 11 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Southern Nevada Water Authority says it can quickly remedy any problems that might crop up in the pumping of water from rural basins to serve the increasing population of Las Vegas.

Kay Brothers, deputy manager of the authority, said Wednesday at a hearing about the water applications that it "does not want an adverse impact on any resource."

The authority started to present its case to state Engineer Huge Ricci for drawing 17,000 acre-feet from the Three Lakes and Tikaboo valleys, which are in Clark and Lincoln counties.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management presented testimony earlier in the hearing that they fear drawing the water could hurt wildlife and plant life in parts of their holdings.

Brothers estimated that it would cost $213 million to pipe all of the water sought in the applications. She said the first phase might include a pipeline along U.S. 95 to bring 5,000 acre-feet from Three Lakes Valley to the northwest part of the Las Vegas Valley at a cost of $35 million to $40 million.

The water authority has a "diverse portfolio" of resources, she said. If there was an adverse impact from piping the Three Lakes water, the district could switch to taking water from the Virgin River, its water banks in Arizona and Nevada, or from other wells that might be drilled in the rural valleys.

The 17,000 acre-feet, Brothers said, was a "small but important part" of the authority's plan to deal with the future growth of the Las Vegas Valley.

Brothers testified that the 17,000 acre-feet in the two valleys was the perennial yield that was available without drying up the areas.

Witnesses for the federal agencies suggested that Ricci, in making his decision, not rely on perennial yields because those figures can vary widely.

The authority maintains that Ricci has used the perennial yield in making past decisions on water applications.

Ken Albright, director of resources for the water authority, said the drought of the past few years forced the authority to update its plans. The state is entitled to take 300,000 acre-feet of water from the Colorado River to serve Clark County.

Albright said the authority was able to take excess water because of the surplus in the river in prior years. He said the ongoing drought reduced the excess water the state could take.

"We needed to accelerate our in-state resources," Albright said. The hearing is scheduled to last through Friday and then Ricci will take the case under submission and make a decision in several months.