Wednesday, March 16, 2005 | 9:52 a.m.
Questions about how much water Southern Nevada can take from rural parts of the state without impacting those areas sparked sharp divisions among members of a committee charged with drafting recommendations to the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
The Water Authority's Integrated Water Planning Advisory Committee has been working since August to draft recommendations on how to develop additional water resources to sustain Las Vegas for the coming decades.
One of the most controversial proposals in the Water Authority's long-range resources planning is to tap rural groundwater supplies in Clark, Lincoln and White Pine counties.
The committee has more than two dozen representatives from various interest groups, including members representing White Pine and Lincoln counties, environmental groups and others who have been skeptical of the plans to develop the rural water sources.
The exchange between supporters and skeptics of plans to develop those groundwater sources occurred as the advisory committee is preparing to move into discussions on how to best juggle a number of potential water sources in forming its recommendations for long-term water resource plans.
Dean Baker, a rancher and representative of White Pine County, said existing water users have already led to a 15 to 20 foot drop in the water table of the rural area, 200 miles to the north of Las Vegas. Wells and pipelines to bring the water from the county to the city will exacerbate the situation, he said.
"It's quite clear that the majority in White Pine County oppose this pipeline," Baker said. "When an area loses its water, it loses its future."
"We know that every time we drill a well, the water table goes down ... Surely there's some more practical long-term solution that allows Nevada to continue growing."
Baker compared the Water Authority's proposal, which could bring 100,000 to 180,000 acre-feet of water to Las Vegas annually from Lincoln and White Pine counties, to the infamous 1913 California water project that drained the Owens Valley to bring water to Los Angeles.
Water Authority officials have repeatedly said the effort to develop rural water sources for the urban area will not result in a new Owens Valley in Nevada.
Richard Bunker, a former Clark County manager and a member of the Colorado River Commission, a sister agency to the Water Authority, said that while Owens Valley will not happen in Nevada, the development of new water sources for Las Vegas is a preeminent demand. Las Vegas now gets 90 percent of its drinking water from the Colorado River.
"There are no quick fixes and no easy answers to what's happening on the Colorado," Bunker said, referring to years of drought and increasing competition for the river's water. "If we are going to continue to grow, we have to look for another resources."
He said he understands Baker's perspective on the issue and assured the rancher that there is "no way another Owens Valley is going to happen," but said Las Vegas has no choice.
"We don't have any choice but to look up there," Bunker said.
Lincoln County, he reminded the committee, has struck a deal with the Water Authority that will provide money for economic development in the rural area. Such a deal could happen for White Pine County as well.
"There are a lot of things that can happen for the good in both Lincoln and White Pine counties," Bunker said. "A partnership with the Southern Nevada Water Authority opens up a lot of opportunities."
Water Authority staffers have been trying to bring that message to White Pine's citizens and political leadership for the last year, but many of the county's citizens are not embracing the water authority's planned wells and pipelines.
Gary Perea, White Pine County commissioner, attended Monday night's meeting of the advisory committee.
"There are a lot of people in Snake Valley, Spring Valley," the two valley's targeted for wells by the water authority, "concerned about this project," Perea said.
He added that the citizens of White Pine County, which has a population of about 8,000, would be unlikely to support any plan unless the long-term impacts are known in advance.
Kay Brothers, Water Authority deputy general manager, said those impacts still have to be determined. She said studies are ongoing on the amount of water available from rural areas, including those valleys in White Pine and Lincoln counties.
The amount of water from the project, which could cost $1.8 to $2 billion, has to be determined by bringing water up from test wells to see the impact on existing wells and springs.
"Until we get out there and pump, we really don't know," Brothers said.
Those supporting the water authority's plans and those who oppose them will have an opportunity to trade perspectives soon. The water authority is holding open houses to share information on its plans April 1 and 2 in the White Pine towns of Ely and Baker. Perea and Baker, the rancher, urged members of the advisory group to attend the meetings next month.
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