Rural-water plan drilled by Nevadans

Thursday, May 5, 2005 | 9:40 a.m.

A federal hearing Wednesday night prompted a flood of testimony against plans of the Southern Nevada Water Authority to pump water from rural Nevada to Las Vegas.

The Bureau of Land Management conducted the hearing as part of its environmental impact statement analysis of the water authority's effort to bring as much as 200,000 acre-feet of water from rural Nevada to Las Vegas. The local agency hopes to begin importing the water by 2015. Wednesday's hearing was the fifth in a series of nine meetings.

About a dozen concerned ranchers and environmentalists who attended earlier hearings in White Pine County, where the Water Authority has applications for more than 90,000 acre-feet from the Snake and Spring valleys, attended the Las Vegas hearing.

They were part of a chorus of opposition to the water plan that arose from the approximately 100 people at the meeting.

The Water Authority currently takes a total of about 300,000 acre-feet annually from the Colorado River to supply almost all of the rapidly growing urban population in Clark County. But that supply, already drought-threatened, has topped out. The agency is seeking more from several sources, but the groundwater supply is its primary alternative.

The meetings have generated nearly unanimous opposition to the wells and pipelines in what could be a $1 billion project. Critics say more.

The environmental impact study is not likely to kill the project, but federal agencies have to respond to concerns raised by those attending the meetings before the final document and record of decision allowing the project to go forward are issued.

Environmentalists from Las Vegas said the project should not go forward unless more is known about the ultimate impact the project would have on springs and existing wells in a vast region from northwest Utah to Death Valley, Calif.

Jeff van Ee, associate director of Nevada Outdoor Recreation Association, said the process should consider not only the impact, but alternatives to the groundwater project.

"I'm skeptical that this is the only, best alternative to bring water to Las Vegas," van Ee said, suggesting that a desalination plant on the Pacific Ocean or more cooperation with other basin states of the Colorado River were better alternatives.

Paul Brown, Southern Nevada director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, a liberal advocacy group, said the project could hurt water tables, spring flows, wildlife and river habitat in a huge area.

He faulted the environmental impact study for lacking basic information that would show what impacts from even test wells would be.

"Baseline data must be gathered showing seasonal variations over several years before any pumping occurs," Brown said.

Jim Deacon, a UNLV professor emeritus, sharply criticized the project, saying that 40 years of research and literature indicate the interconnected nature of aquifers in the region. He said the plan to remove water from White Pine and Lincoln counties would have an impact on wells or springs somewhere, although where is not now clear.

Deacon said the impact could drop water tables from 1,600 feet to a foot throughout the Great Basin. He also warned that many others covet the water in the region, and those other efforts have to be considered in the overall impact that water authority plan would have.

Finally, he said the water authority's claim that only seven endangered species would potentially be affected by the groundwater plan was inaccurate.

"There are at least 16 federally listed endangered species... and 298 sensitive species within the area," Deacon said.

Jane Feldman, conservation committee chairwoman for the local arm of the Sierra Club, called the groundwater project "incredibly dangerous."

The environmentalists have not always agreed with ranchers from the West Desert, but the two groups are united in their opposition to the plan. Even ranchers from Utah made the long trek to Las Vegas to let Southern Nevada know of their concerns.

"I would like the pipeline, if it were to be constructed, to be headed south and terminate in the Pacific Ocean," said Utah rancher Ed Alder, who said the water authority needs to take another look at building desalination plants to supply water needs.

Other speakers said a U.S. Geological Survey study of water resources in the Snake and Spring valleys, now under way, should be completed before the BLM completes its environmental impact study and makes a decision regarding the water authority's rights-of-way for its pipelines and wells.

Water authority officials at the meeting did not directly respond to the many criticisms of the groundwater project.

Lisa Luptowitz, a water authority environmental planner, said the U.S. Geological Survey study would be geographically limited. She said hydrologists working for the Water Authority are confident that water supplies in rural Nevada are sufficient to supply Las Vegas without significant impact on wells or springs that depend on the same aquifers.