Water pumping hearings end

CARSON CITY -- State hearings into a plan to pump billions of gallons of rural Nevada water to Las Vegas ended Friday with proponents saying they're entitled to the water and opponents warning that the pumping could have a catastrophic impact.

State Engineer Tracy Taylor will review the testimony and voluminous paperwork submitted during two weeks of hearings and issue a ruling at a later date on the Southern Nevada Water Authority pumping plan. A final decision isn't likely for several months.

Paul Taggart, attorney for the agency that wants to draw more than 11.3 billion gallons of groundwater a year from Delamar, Dry Lake and Cave valleys, argued that the water authority has met all the requirements for the pumping and that critics' disaster scenarios are unfounded.

Simeon Herskovits, attorney for the Great Basin Water Network which opposes the plan, countered the Southern Nevada agency tried to hide evidence that the pumping may harm existing water users and the environment in rural Nevada because there's not enough water in the valleys for long-term exportation.

Herskovits was backed by Greg Walch, representing Cave Valley Ranch LLC which wants to develop land in that area. Walch said despite its remoteness, the valley has potential, but not without water.

Taggart countered, saying the three valleys have limited growth potential. As for the development plans outlined by Walch, he said they don't pencil out and SNWA "shouldn't lose water because someone wants to dig a hole, throw money in it and burn it."

"This isn't a shell game. This isn't some kind of legal argument. This is science," Taggart said in challenging Herskovits' comments about inadequate analysis by SNWA on the impact of the pumping, a key element in a multibillion-dollar project to get more water for Las Vegas.

Claims from critics about the potential for economic and environmental disasters are like "a boy whistling in the dark," Taggart said, adding that the state engineer should trust that "ingenuity and engineering" by SNWA can keep the valleys from drying up.

Herskovits said SNWA's estimate of water availability in the valleys was based on "some real uncertainty, some real speculation," adding, "What we have is a great paucity of real evidence and instead some very creative analysis."

The valleys are all in central Lincoln County, which initially opposed the plan but reached an agreement with the water authority on which groundwater basins can developed. The agreement also allows for use of SNWA's pipeline, for a price, by the county.

The agency hopes to begin delivering rural groundwater to Las Vegas by 2015.