Water agency eyes office in Lincoln

Wednesday, July 20, 2005 | 10:40 a.m.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority's efforts to sway public opinion will continue Thursday as the agency considers buying an office in Pioche, the Lincoln County seat.

The water wholesaler for Clark County has plans to build a network of wells and pipelines to bring groundwater to Las Vegas for use by the rapidly growing urban population.

The 4,000-square-foot suite of offices would cost $165,000, and would be used by the technical employees that are working to gain state and federal approval for the wells and pipelines and ultimately by those building the system, said Vince Alberta, Water Authority spokesman.

The Water Authority, which has reached its limit in terms of what it can take from the main source of water for Las Vegas, the Colorado River, plans an aggressive, $3 billion effort to as much as double the amount of water brought to the urban area.

Most of the water would come from wells in rural parts of Clark, White Pine and Lincoln counties, as well as surface water from the Muddy and Virgin rivers in Clark County.

Alberta said the Pioche offices also would be a place for Lincoln County to stop by with questions.

The Water Authority board will consider the expenditure Thursday morning at the agency's regular monthly meeting.

Alberta was in Salt Lake City on Tuesday with his boss, Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy. The trip was a chance for Mulroy to meet with newspaper editorial boards in the Beehive State.

The agency already has hired lobbyists in Utah, where some politicians have expressed concern about the Water Authority's plans that include a line of wells near the Nevada-Utah state line in a valley that also includes some of Utah's most productive agricultural land.

Alberta said the cost of hiring lobbyist Fred Finlinson and his wife comes to between $20,000 and $25,000 annually. Other "outreach efforts" by the Water Authority have included renting another office in Ely, in White Pine County, for $9,600 annually.

The Water Authority is also advertising its message. Among the venues the authority is paying for is an $18,800, five-month agreement to support Nevada News Makers, a television show broadcast on NBC affiliates in Reno and Las Vegas. Alberta said the authority has already paid $20,600 to underwrite the show for the first six months of the year.

"For that underwriting, we get mentioned and we get 30-second spots," Alberta said.

Mulroy and other officials with the agency will continue attending outreach meetings in rural Nevada, Alberta said. Mulroy was scheduled to be in Elko on Tuesday night and today; Pioche Aug. 1; Pahrump Aug. 8; Reno and Sparks Aug. 16 and 17; Ely Aug. 25 and Mesquite and St. George, Utah, Aug. 30 and 31.

One sharp critic of the Water Authority's plans nevertheless salutes the agency for its outreach efforts -- but only because those efforts will backfire, she believes.

"We think it's a good sign that they think they have to do it," said Denys Koyle, co-owner of the Border Inn in White Pine County and an opponent of the plans to develop groundwater in her part of the state.

"They're throwing the money at the problem, but this doesn't help them. This just reminds people that they're the big bullies, throwing money at the problem."

Koyle said people scoffed at a recent full page advertisement in the Elko newspaper. She said the advertisement and other outreach efforts appear to be in response to the organized resistance to the agency's plans.

"We think it's really a good sign that we've made an impact that they have to do this," Koyle said.

She said Mulroy's planned visits to the largely rural area might be counterproductive.

"Pat is a tough lady and she can stand on her own, but sending her out will be like a thorn under our saddle," Koyle said.

Jerald Anderson, a farmer in the nearby religious community of Eskdale, is less upbeat about what he calls the public relations "blitz."

Hiring Finlinson, he said, is "totally consistent with their approach of hiring anybody who has influence and getting them to go their way."

The advertising effort "probably just tends to polarize people's positions," he said. But some people, those who would not be directly impacted by the Water Authority's plans, will find it easier to believe the agency's assurances that the groundwater development effort will not negatively affect existing water resources -- a thesis that Anderson does not believe.

Alberta said that while the ultimate decision on whether the Water Authority can tap the proposed water sources will be up to state and federal regulators, the Southern Nevada agency has a commitment to work with the rural communities.

"The Southern Nevada Water Authority has always had a commitment to public participation and outreach," he said. "It is one of our founding principles. The overwhelming majority of these costs involve promoting one-on-one interaction with the community, or communities, and we think that is invaluable, that extremely valuable, and worth an investment of resources.

"It demonstrates that we want to work with these communities."