Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

RURAL NEVADA: Water timetable speeds up

Drought forces early start to plans for pipeline projects, officials say

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Spurred by the region's record drought, the Southern Nevada Water Authority is accelerating its plans to develop more than $1 billion worth of wells and pipelines connecting Las Vegas to water resources in rural Nevada.

On Thursday, the water authority board will discuss a report from staff that details plans to tap groundwater in Clark, Lincoln and White Pine counties and surface water rights the authority owns on the Virgin and Muddy rivers.

"This is the launch, at least conceptually," water authority spokesman Vince Alberta said. "This has always been in our reserve portfolio and on our list of options. The drought has forced us to look at some of these resources sooner than planned."

The plan calls for three water projects to be built over the next 10 years.

Using pipelines that would branch into northeastern and northwestern Clark County, bisect Lincoln County and stretch as far north as Ely, the largest of the three projects could increase the water supply for the Las Vegas Valley by as much as 200,000 acre-feet, two-thirds of its annual allotment from the Colorado River system.

An acre-foot of water amounts to 325,829 gallons, enough to cover one acre of land with one foot of water. According to water authority figures, the average household in the Las Vegas Valley consumes about 230,000 gallons of water per year.

Most of the water used in the Las Vegas Valley comes from Lake Mead. Original estimates by the water authority suggested new, in-state water resources would not have to be developed to supplement Colorado River water in the Las Vegas Valley until 2017.

The five-year drought has changed that, said Henderson Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers, chairwoman of the water authority board.

"When you're saving for the future, you want to diversify your investments, not put all your eggs in one basket," Cyphers said. "This is like a water portfolio. It's the smart way to go in case something happens."

In April 2003, the water authority reached an agreement with Lincoln County that opened several water basins in the rural county for use by the Las Vegas Valley or joint use by Las Vegas and Lincoln County. At least two of the basins extend into neighboring White Pine County, with which the authority has not yet struck an agreement.

Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., John Ensign, R-Nev., and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., are drafting a bill that could clear the way for water pipelines between Lincoln County and Las Vegas.

A Reid aide said the legislation will take the form of a lands bill for Lincoln County.

The bill would set aside land for state and local parks, direct the disposal of 80,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management property near Lincoln County communities and establish rights of way that would allow the delivery of water across federal land and out of the county.

"One of the things will be rights of way for water pipelines," the aide said, "but that doesn't mean, A, that pipelines will ever be built or, B, that there will ever be water in them."

Reid said he hopes to introduce the bill in the coming weeks.

Alberta said much has to happen before the authority can start importing water from Lincoln and White Pine counties, including hydrologic analyses, environmental studies, public meetings, and the design and construction of hundreds of miles of pipeline.

"I think everybody wants to make sure the resource is there and will sustain itself," Alberta said. "We are committed, if this goes forward, to working with all the various stakeholders. Part of that involves protecting the lifestyles in those rural counties."

Then there is the money. Alberta said a preliminary estimate places the cost of the three projects at well over $1 billion.

Much of the authority's effort hinges on the state water engineer approving some of the 147 groundwater applications in rural counties that were made by the Las Vegas Valley Water District in a mass filing in 1989. "Applications don't automatically translate into permits," Alberta said.

The authority has asked the state water engineer to act on water right applications that would deliver 17,000 acre-feet of water per year from Three Lakes Valley and Tikapoo Valley, which is the smallest of the three proposed water projects.

For the project involving surface water rights on the Virgin and Muddy rivers, authority officials would eliminate the need for a pipeline if they are allowed to take water after it empties into Lake Mead. "But that's a big if," Alberta said.

Such an agreement would amount to an increase in Nevada's annual allotment from the Colorado River system, which includes the water that flows into the Colorado from tributaries such as the Virgin and Muddy rivers.

In deals struck in the late 1990s and 2000, the authority secured the rights to 113,000 acre-feet a year from the Virgin River and 8,000 acre-feet a year from the Muddy.

Writer Samantha Young of the Stephens Washington Bureau contributed to this report.