Editorial: Water plan must go forward

Sunday, Aug. 20, 2006 | 7:42 a.m.

Without a share of ground water from rural counties, Las Vegas risks economic catastrophe

The general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, Pat Mulroy, predicts that unless a plan to tap ground water supplies from Lincoln and White Pine counties to the north is allowed to move forward, new growth in the Las Vegas area will end sometime between 2013 and 2016.

That's because no master-planned community, hotel or any other project can proceed unless the state engineer can certify that there will be enough water to support it. And as things stand today, within seven to 10 years our current water supply from Lake Mead will be unable to sustain growth.

A halt to growth here could lead to hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs, according to a 2004 study by financial analysts Guy Hobbs and Jeremy Aguero. The impact would be felt throughout the state, as two-thirds of all of Nevada's tax collections are generated in Clark County.

Hearings by State Engineer Tracy Taylor on the ground water plan are scheduled for Sept. 11 through Sept. 29. Mulroy, who has more than 20 years of involvement in local and Western water issues, minces no words in describing the importance of a positive outcome. "If Nevada cannot find a way to develop its ground water resources, it can shut its doors," she says.

The reason for her concern is the ongoing drought affecting Lake Mead, which supplies 90 percent of Las Vegas' water. The lake's water level has dropped about 100 feet over the past six years. And the level of Lake Powell in Arizona, which feeds Lake Mead, is dropping even more precipitously.

The multibillion-dollar ground water proposal, which has been in the planning stages since 1990, calls for pumping 91,000 acre-feet from the Spring Valley region of Lincoln County and 25,000 acre-feet from the Snake Valley region of White Pine County. (An acre-foot is roughly enough water to supply a family of five for a year.)

Mulroy believes this amount of extra water would ensure Las Vegas' growth to the middle of this century. By that time, we hope, the federal law governing how Colorado River water is shared among seven states will have been changed to allow Nevada a greater portion.

Although next month's hearings focus only on the proposed draw from Spring Valley, a protest filed by ranchers in Snake Valley will be considered. Mulroy has been unable to convince the ranchers that their lands will be fully protected for the duration of the pumping operation.

From the ranchers' perspective, the ground water plan is reminiscent of Owens Valley, a once-lush area in California that Los Angeles water officials began draining after an aqueduct was completed in 1913. The valley, which included a lake, subsequently turned into a dust bowl, and issues surrounding the water grab continue today.

Dean Baker, a Snake Valley rancher, and Gary Perea, a White Pine County commissioner, met with the Las Vegas Sun's editorial board to express their concerns. They have an abiding distrust of not only the Water Authority's promises to protect their livelihoods, but also of its claim that the valleys in Lincoln and White Pine counties have excess water. They say their own pumping, to run their ranches, is barely a drop in the bucket compared to what Las Vegas will need, and yet negative impacts from even that small amount are being felt.

Mulroy, however, says Owens Valley preceded environmental law that forbids such practices today. Also, she says, the ranchers are using surface water, from wells only 700 feet deep, as opposed to water in untapped aquifers 1,500 to 2,000 feet deep that the Water Authority plans to pump. She says the ranchers will actually have more secure futures if the Water Authority develops a system of deeper wells.

We are sensitive to the ranchers' concerns. No one wants to jeopardize their future prospects. But we believe the ground water plan must go forward. Mulroy has outlined numerous checks and balances, all backed by state law, that would protect the ranch lands.

With the drought upon us for an indeterminate length of time, and with global warming almost certain to decrease future snowmelt into the Colorado River, there really is no choice but for the state and its counties to work cooperatively to solve the impending Las Vegas water crisis.