Letter: Plans for rural water just another quick fix

Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005 | 9:01 a.m.

Hats off to Rita L. Ransom of Las Vegas for pointing out in her Oct. 31 letter that the Southern Nevada Water Authority's plans for piping water from the rural counties in Nevada is a "quick fix." I was born in Las Vegas in 1963, and have lived in Indian Springs most of my life.

I am a degreed geolgist, and a land surveyor by trade. I have watched Las Vegas grow from less than 250,000 people in the 1970s to nearly 2 million today. The Las Vegas Valley Water District ran out of water in the 1970s. They gambled, borrowing from the future, and began pulling water out of Lake Mead.

We have had a few bad drought years on the Colorado Plateau, and now Lake Mead looks like a dirty bathtub. The Southern Nevada Water Authority is looking to gamble again, borrowing from the future in White Pine, Lincoln and rural Clark Counties. Is this not just a desperate attempt to fuel unchecked growth in the Las Vegas Valley?

Has anyone in the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the Las Vegas City Council, or the Board of Clark County Commissioners given any thought as to what effect this might have on wildlife, agriculture or rural communities? The Southern Nevada Water Authority's plan is not only expensive and drastic, but it also gives no thought to the future whatsoever. It is, indeed, a "quick fix."

Steven A. Bobo

Indian Springs

Editor's note: The writer is president of the Indian Springs Civic Association, which opposed the Southern Nevada Water Authority's application to take water from the Three Lakes Valley.