U.S. Water News Online
RENO, Nev. -- Nevada's water engineer has rejected a proposal by engineer Tom Gallagher to pump water from a desert valley east of Pyramid Lake and pipe it to Fernley, Warm Springs and Spanish Springs valleys and the Reno-Sparks area.
State Engineer Tracy Taylor ruled the 38,000 acre feet per year that Gallagher, owner of Summit Engineering Corp., wanted to pump from Granite Valley "substantially exceeds" water resources in the valley and would interfere with existing rights.
Gallagher's water exploration firm, Aqua Trac, started out with applications for 130,000 acre feet in Granite Springs but later reduced the amount.
Among critics who challenged various parts of the pumping request were the C-Punch Ranch, Pershing and Churchill counties, the federal Bureau of Land Management and ATI Systems International.
Besides the lack of available water, Taylor said Gallagher didn't provide evidence of contracts or other ties with ultimate users of the water and failed to overcome arguments that he filed the applications for speculative purposes.
Gallagher maintained that a test well pumped millions of gallons over seven days with no lowering of the aquifer. He had described the valley as filled with sand 6,000 feet deep or more and surrounded by granite mountains, creating a vast basin for water to settle.
But C-Punch and ATI, which own land in Granite Springs, argued their water rights would be hurt. Opponents also contended Gallagher lacked the finances to pipe the water out of the valley.
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