State OKs withdrawal of rural water

Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2005 | 11:08 a.m.

Nevada State Engineer Hugh Ricci today announced his approval for the withdrawal of about 8,900 acre-feet of water annually from the Three Lakes and Tikiboo valleys in northwest Clark County and southwest Lincoln County.

Although the approval is less than the 17,000 acre-feet the Southern Nevada Water Authority requested in hearings last spring, agency officials characterized the approval as another boost for their aggressive program of developing deep groundwater resources throughout the state.

An acre-foot of water, or about 326,000 gallons, can provide enough water for one or two families of five for a year. The approval could provide enough water for about 67,000 people in the region.

Ricci placed one potential curb on the use of the water. He required monitoring of wells and springs that are fed by the same aquifer that supplies the Three Lakes and Tikiboo valleys, and if negative impacts are detected, the water authority would have to stop pumping.

Pat Mulroy, water authority general manager, said the decision simultaneously protects the interests of the environment and the water users of Las Vegas.

Environmentalists and representatives from some federal agencies, the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, expressed concern last year that the proposed draw would affect springs that were important for rare desert wildlife.

Mulroy and her staff have consistently said they will not allow that to happen. She said Tuesday that the decision protects the environment.

"This is a fair and balanced decision," Mulroy said. "It is one that very much takes into consideration the entirety of the watershed, making sure that there are no impacts downstream."

Mulroy said the water authority has other applications for the valleys, and if no impact is detected, the agency can seek more of the water locked deep in the rock.

"We have to pump it to know what's there," she said. "We will never know until we pump. ... In the order, rigid monitoring has to be in place. If the actual pumping shows a negative impact, we stop pumping."

Kay Brothers, water authority deputy general manager, said the cost for developing the Three Lakes portion of the water-rights approval is estimated to be $55 million and could be in place by 2007 or early 2008. Pipelines across federal Bureau of Land Management property would bring the water down U.S. 95 to the Las Vegas Valley under the plan.

She said costs for the Tikiboo portion of the approval have not been established yet. In the hearings last spring, the water authority estimated the total cost for the Three Lakes and Tikiboo water resource development at more than $200 million.

"We've been working to put together the rights-of-way with the BLM," Brothers said.

She said impacts to the existing aquifer can be minimized through managing the various well fields that would bring the water to the surface.

"We think we can manage it by rotating and managing the well fields."

Jane Feldman, a local activist with the Sierra Club, said the decision is disappointing.

"It is a horrible foundation to lay for future problem solving," said Feldman, who added that environmentalists will have to consider their legal options. They could appeal the decision to the courts.

"It's the wrong way to go," she said. "People think we can monitor things and then do something about it, but sometimes the impacts are so subtle and widespread that we cannot measure the impact until it's too late."