Arizona judge frowns on request for groundwater
KINGMAN, Ariz. -- An administrative law judge in Phoenix is recommending denial of an application for an out-of-state transfer of groundwater from northwest Arizona for use in nearby Mesquite.
Judge Thomas Shedden issued his 44-page recommendation Tuesday regarding the application filed in March 2005 on behalf of Wind River Resources.
Wind River proposed to use three wells to pump water from the Beaver Dam Wash and deliver it by pipeline to Mesquite and the Virgin Valley Water District. The water district serves a 312 square mile area encompassing southern Clark County and the community of Scenic, Ariz.
Wind River proposed an initial transfer of 88 acre-feet of water from Mormon Wells, near Beaver Dam, to the water district. Transfer volume would increase each year, topping out at 14,000 acre-feet per year.
The Bureau of Land Management, state Rep. Nancy McLain and the staff of the Arizona Department of Water Resources opposed the transfer proposal.
The Water Resources Department "determined that Wind River did not submit studies that are satisfactory to determine the probable hydrologic impact on the Mormon Wells area," Shedden wrote Tuesday.
Shedden's recommendation also said that the application was inadequate in estimating effects on well users, riparian habitat and subsidence.
His decision also said Wind River had no showing that water sought by the water district was unavailable elsewhere in Nevada.
McLain said she is pleased with Shedden's position, based on two days of public hearings she attended in Beaver Dam in early March.
"I didn't see how the judge could rule any other way that to recommend denial," McLain said. "The burden is on the person requesting the transfer to show that there's not going to be any damage and that there's no other source available for them, and in either of these regards, Wind River, I don't believe, made their case."
Herb Guenther, director of the Water Resources Department, has until Nov. 29 to act on Shedden's recommendation.
