Tapping rural water proves tricky

Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

Southern Nevada's water wholesaler may be moving forward with plans to drill wells and build pipelines to bring the resource to Las Vegas, but officials said Monday evening that the decision to tap rural water in central and northern parts of the state is not a done deal.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority -- facing a drought that has shown the precariousness of dependence on one source, the Colorado River, for nearly all of the water needs of Clark County's 1.6 million people -- is working to bring rural water to the urban area. Ultimately, the agency hopes to cobble together enough river and groundwater to allow the urban population to at least double.

While portions of that effort could likely be realized relatively quickly, the bulk of the water in White Pine and Lincoln counties could be more problematic for the Water Authority.

Jeff Johnson, Water Authority senior hydrologist, told a meeting of the agency's Integrated Water Planning Advisory Committee that he expects the state to rule on some wells in northern Clark County within a year, and the federal Bureau of Land Management to sign off on pipeline rights-of-way on the same project in the Three Lakes area within the next two years.

Johnson said he expects a similar timeline for federal and state approvals to tap into the Muddy and Virgin rivers in northeast Clark County. But development of rural water resources in White Pine and Lincoln counties, which have engendered resistance from ranchers and environmentalists, could be more difficult.

The Bureau of Land Management should hold public "scoping" meetings on proposed rights-of-way to bring water to Las Vegas from the rural counties, but a decision to allow the pipelines might not come until 2009 or later, Johnson said.

The scoping meetings are a component of a federal environmental impact study that is expected to be needed for the work to bring the water down from the rural north country, he said.

Jason King, deputy state engineer for the Nevada Division of Water Resources, said his agency will have to make the ultimate decision on how much water the Clark County agency can take from the ground in White Pine and Lincoln counties.

The state engineer has the statutory authority to ensure that the water authority's applications for as much as 129,000 acre-feet of water in White Pine County and a similar amount in Lincoln County do not threaten the existing water supplies used by ranchers or the environment in the rural counties.

King noted that the water authority's applications to tap rural water have so far generated more than 3,000 protests, which means his office will have to hold hearings on how much, if any, of the rural water will ultimately make it to Las Vegas.

The hearings are based on sometimes sketchy knowledge of how much water is in the deep "carbonate" rock in the rural counties. King said the water authority will have to test how much water can be taken from the carbonate aquifer.

"Development of the carbonate aquifer must be undertaken in gradual stages, with good monitoring, in order to predict the effects of continued pumping," King said.

Lisa Luptowitz, a water authority environmental planner, said work on the federal environmental impact studies and preparation for the state engineer's hearings will likely overlap. A key to both would be test pumping to determine how much impact tapping the deep groundwater will have, she said.

One committee member, Frank Martin, representing industrial interests on the advisory committee, noted that the water authority already has applied with the state and federal governments to take the water. He asked what role the advisory committee would have.

"It would seem like we're kind of a figurehead here to justify actions that have already taken place," Martin said.

Richard Wimmer, water authority deputy general manager, said the recommendations from the advisory committee would be important to the plans that the agency draws up. He said one reason that the plans for tapping rural water are moving forward is that environmental impact studies and hearings before the state engineer can take years to complete.

"The lead time is so long, you need to be starting now," Wimmer said.

Wimmer said the public scoping meetings for the environmental impact studies and a series of water authority-sponsored meetings in the rural counties next year would give people outside of Las Vegas an opportunity to comment on the agency's plans.

Peggy Maze Johnson, a committee member and Las Vegas environmentalist who has sharply criticized the water authority's plans in the past, suggested the battle over the plans is just beginning.

Members of the advisory committee can use the committee and the future meetings as forums to raise issues about the water authority's plans.

"It's not a done deal," she said. "People say we (on the committee) are a rubber stamp, but we're just not rubber stamp people. You're going to hear both sides."