Click image for enlargement. Graphic by Mike Johnson.

The state has rejected the bulk of a request to supply water to Coyote Springs, but the ruling will not dry up plans to build Nevada's largest master-planned community 60 miles north of Las Vegas.

In a ruling issued last week, State Engineer Tracy Taylor cleared Lincoln County to pump 1,000 acre-feet of water a year from Kane Springs Valley, some 16,000 acre-feet less than the county filed for in 2005.

The county hoped to develop the water and sell it to the Coyote Springs development with the help of private water marketing firm Vidler Water Company.

Those plans have not changed, said Dorothy Timian-Palmer, chief operating officer for Carson City-based Vidler.

"It's still the same plan. We just can't go as fast as we want," Timian-Palmer said on Friday.

Over the next 30 to 40 years, powerful Nevada lobbyist- turned-developer Harvey Whittemore wants to create a brand new city in the mostly empty Coyote Springs Valley. His proposal includes 16 golf courses and more than 150,000 homes on 43,000 acres east of U.S. Highway 93.

Two-thirds of the development will occur in Lincoln County. The initial construction, however, is occurring in Clark County.

The first golf course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, is expected to be finished this year.

Coyote Springs Executive Vice President Mike Hillerby said the water ruling would not curtail his boss's vision.

Whittemore has said he eventually will need 50,000 acre-feet of water for his development. He currently owns the rights to about 4,600 acre-feet of water in Coyote Springs, with pending applications for another 163,000 acre-feet.

One acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons, which is enough water to supply two Las Vegas Valley homes for one year.

The original applications from Lincoln County and Vidler sought the rights to more than 17,300 acre-feet of groundwater in Kane Springs Valley. A hearing was held in Carson City last year on a 5,000 acre-foot portion of that request.

"We never believed we would get 5,000. We were hoping to get around 1,500 to 2,000," Timian-Palmer said.

The next move for Lincoln County and Vidler is to develop the water rights approved by the state last week.

The county has an agreement with Whittemore to sell him water for $6,050 per acre-foot per year. Whittemore would construct a four-mile pipeline to bring the water from a Kane Springs wellhead to his development.

"Remember, a thousand acre-feet is a lot of water. A thousand acre-feet is enough for 2,000 homes," Timian-Palmer said.

She added that groundwater pumping in Kane Springs Valley would yield new data about the aquifer that could be used to bolster the case for additional withdrawals there.

Last year, Lincoln County and Vidler teamed up on four new applications in Kane Springs Valley totaling more than 17,300 acre-feet.

Whittemore's project has drawn criticism from conservationists, who argue that 65 square miles of new neighborhoods and golf courses is a poor example of responsible desert development.

But Coyote Springs has won the backing of some powerful people.

In July, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., organized a news conference at Coyote Springs to celebrate the development.

Among those on hand for the event, which Reid himself called a "lovefest," were then-Rep. Jim Gibbons and a host of officials from Clark County, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.