Nevada Assemblyman Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, talks Thursday in his office at the Legislature in Carson City. Goicoechea represents a vast rural portion of Northern Nevada that includes an area that would be affected by a plan to pump water from White Pine County to the Las Vegas area. Photo by The Associated Press

CARSON CITY -- Household water use in the Las Vegas Valley would drop dramatically if the Southern Nevada Water Authority used a pricing structure similar to that of Tucson, Ariz., a water conservation advocate testified Thursday.

Charles Benjamin, director of the Nevada office of Western Resource Advocates, told the Assembly Government Affairs Committee that per capita water use in Las Vegas is 227 gallons a day, 90 gallons more than in Tucson.

He said Tucson uses a four-tiered pricing system under which residential consumers who use a lot of water pay rates more than three times those used in the Las Vegas Valley.

"They don't send a strong signal for conservation," Benjamin said of the Southern Nevada Water Authority's prices. "Let's be more efficient with the energy and water we have before stirring up political controversy by taking it from somewhere else."

During the meeting, White Pine County Commissioner Laurie Carson said the Southern Nevada Water Authority offered her county just $12 million last spring to support its application to pipe water from rural Nevada.

Carson said the county calculated it would need to spend $20 million on hydrologists, independent studies and other items left out of the proposed agreement.

"They say we won't talk with them," Carson said. "Well, we will not talk to them when, under the agreement, they would retain full authority over decisions on when to stop pumping."

Carson and rancher Dean Baker said pumping from rural Nevada to Las Vegas would destroy the economy of their county.

"I was very disappointed with the Southern Nevada Water Authority's (lack of) forthrightness and honesty with the people of White Pine County," said Doug Carson, another White Pine County rancher who has served on several water advisory boards.

The hearing was the third the Government Affairs Committee has conducted on the Southern Nevada Water Authority's move to pump 115,000 acre-feet of water a year out of six valleys in White Pine and Lincoln counties.

The committee has no direct say in what becomes of the authority's pipeline plan. That decision will be made by State Engineer Tracy Taylor, who presided over a hearing on the project in Carson City last September.

Taylor is expected to announce his ruling later this year.

Committee Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas, said if her committee does anything, then it will be bringing the water authority and White Pine County officials to the table to discuss mutual water concerns.

"I guarantee they are all going to the table," Kirkpatrick said. "This is the most important issue for the state of Nevada."

In an interview, Kirkpatrick said she is fair-minded and represents the state of Nevada.

But 70 percent of legislators are from Clark County. Only two, Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, and Assemblyman Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, represent White Pine County.

In the hearing, Benjamin insisted Las Vegas would not need to import water from rural Nevada over a 250-mile pipeline if it employed a Tucson-style water pricing system.

His comments were in sharp contrast to statements made eight days ago before the same committee by Pat Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Mulroy said her agency has investigated every option and must import water from White Pine and Lincoln counties by 2015 or faucets will begin running dry.

Southern Nevada Water Authority spokesman Scott Huntley challenged Benjamin's conclusion. Huntley said Tucson averages 11 inches of rain per year compared with four inches in Las Vegas. Most water usage is for outdoor irrigation, so Las Vegas usage is consequently higher.

"We'd have a lower consumption rate, too, if Mother Nature would cooperate," Huntley said.

The average household in Southern Nevada last year used 13,600 gallons of water per month, 24 percent less than the 17,900 gallon used in 2002.

Huntley contended the Tucson figures are for the city alone and do not include agricultural use. But the Las Vegas figures cover the entire 1,600-square-mile Las Vegas Valley and include agriculture uses, he said.

He said a citizens panel will look at water pricing rates this spring and determine if rates should be raised.

Benjamin said the Southern Nevada Water Authority should be commended for its conservation efforts, but pricing changes should be implemented.

"I think they are getting too defensive," Benjamin said. "I am not trying to attack them. Look at the water pricing structure. It is going to be a tough sell to people in White Pine County if the water they want is going to lawns and golf courses in Las Vegas."