U.S. Water News Online
CARSON CITY, Nev.-- A key witness endorsed a bid to pump billions of gallons of groundwater from rural Nevada to booming Las Vegas -- but agreed under questioning that state law bars approval of pumping that would interfere with existing rights.
Mike Turnipseed, a former conservation agency chief and state water engineer, also agreed under repeated questioning from a hearing officer that Nevada law doesn't make municipal use the highest and best use of groundwater.
Susan Joseph-Taylor, the hearing officer for the state engineer's office, focused on the laws during the second week of hearings on the Southern Nevada Water Authority request to draw more than 90,000 acre feet of groundwater from Spring Valley, in White Pine County.
The Spring Valley plan is a main element of a $2 billion plan to send more than 180,000 acre feet of water a year from rural valleys to southern Nevada. The SNWA hopes to expand that through reuse and other means to about 300,000 acre feet a year. That's enough water to supply several hundred thousand households.
During the testimony the SWNA had promised to shut off any approved wells in Spring Valley, near the Nevada-Utah border, if they conflicted with existing rights and if the state engineer demanded a shutdown.
Turnipseed, responding to Joseph-Taylor's questions, said he knew of no state engineer's shutdown order under such circumstances. That prompted the hearing officer to say there may be a promise to stop pumping but given the state's history "does it really ring true?"
The exchanges occurred as Turnipseed testified for several hours in support of the SNWA pumping plan aimed at ensuring Las Vegas has adequate water for continued growth.
Turnipseed at one point said municipal water agencies should be given "more latitude" than other applicants for water-pumping rights. Joseph-Taylor then repeatedly asked him to describe applicable statutes, and Turnipseed finally said, "Nowhere in Nevada law does it say that municipal use is the highest and best use."
At another point, Joseph-Taylor asked whether the law states that the engineer can grant pumping rights if there's a way to mitigate problems created for existing wells, or whether it states an application can't be granted if it's going to interfere with the existing rights.
"The latter," Turnipseed said.
Advocates of the plan say a drought has cut heavily into southern Nevada's share of Colorado River water, mandating the need for other sources within the state. They also warn that any indication that Las Vegas might not get the water it needs to deal with growth could scare off investors and lead to an economic slowdown that would affect the entire state.
The water authority is seeking state approval for 19 groundwater applications it filed in Spring Valley in 1989. Those proposals are among 33 applications for rural water.
State Engineer Tracy Taylor will issue a ruling after weighing the testimony and reviewing more than 170 exhibits submitted by the SNWA. Even if the various groundwater applications are granted soon, the SNWA has said the water is unlikely to reach the Las Vegas Valley before 2015.
The overall pumping plan has caused concern for some rural officials, ranchers, conservationists and even Utah officials and the Mormon Church. Utah officials protested because some wells would be in valleys that straddle the Nevada-Utah border. The church owns water rights in Spring Valley and wants to ensure they're not harmed.
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