Commentary on Vegas and water: Notes on a skirmish, Southern Nevada Water Authority schemes defeated yet again

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 6, 2010 at 5:11 am

From the Chance of Rain blog:

“Goliath wasn’t really trying, didn’t really want to win and it never really was a contest. That’s the upshot of the response from the Southern Nevada Water Authority after a proposed amendment provoked by legal troubles to do with its massive haul of water awards out of central Nevada failed to pass during the special session of state legislature, which closed early Monday.

Those opposing the amendment along with the SNWA’s proposed pipeline into the heart of the state claimed a huge victory. Dozens of Vegas lobbyists turned away! A great day for justice, the small man, everything good!

The Las Vegas water authority shrugged it off, saying that it had been working for the amendment in Carson City simply to help a beleaguered state natural resources agency protect thousands of water awards threatened as a byproduct of a nuisance suit brought by the pipeline protestors. … “

Continue reading this post from the Chance of Rain blog by clicking here.

From Las Vegas City Life, investigative reporter George Knapp (Las Vegas Channel 8) delves into more shenanigans:

“If ever there was a guy who fit the political cliché about someone you’d like to have a beer with, it’s Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins. Collins is a likeable, plainspoken cowpoke, not averse to using a four-letter word when appropriate, more than willing to call a spade by its proper name.

And that’s why I’m having trouble absorbing this news about his stint as a paid lobbyist for a company owned by developer Harvey Whittemore. My colleague Steve Sebelius broke the story a few days ago after spotting Collins’s name on the list of lobbyists working the special legislative session. Not everyone knows Tuffy Ranch LLC, the company which paid Collins to be in Carson City, is the business entity used by uber-lobbyist-turned-developer Whittemore, but that happens to be a fact. For Collins to accept a paycheck from Whittemore for anything at all is a pretty serious flaunting of ethical standards, no matter how one parses the words.

In case you don’t know it, Whittemore is trying to develop a multi-billion dollar development out in barren, dry Coyote Springs, a 40,000-acre parcel he obtained several years ago, and got it essentially for free. … “

Continue reading from Las Vegas City Life by clicking here.

March 6, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Nevada workshops will examine court’s decision on water rights

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 4, 2010 at 6:22 am

From the Las Vegas Sun:

“CARSON CITY – Heeding the call of the Legislature, the state Division of Water Resources is holding a workshop to examine the effect of a court decision voiding efforts to pump water to Las Vegas from rural Nevada.

Gov. Jim Gibbons asked the special session of the Legislature to consider the effect of the ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court that may throw 14,500 water rights in jeopardy.

Assembly and Senate leaders both read statements into the record on the closing day of the special session urging the state engineer to hold hearings and develop recommendations to either request the governor to call a special session or get a bill ready for the 2011 Legislature. … “

Continue reading this story from the Las Vegas Sun by clicking here.

March 4, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Southern Nevada Water Authority officials not surprised at legislative inaction

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 2, 2010 at 6:32 am

From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

“When the sausage finally got made in Carson City early Monday morning and water was not among the list of ingredients, Southern Nevada Water Authority officials were not terribly surprised.

Though they argued in favor of a hastily crafted bill aimed at reshaping Nevada water law, they considered its passage something of a long shot, said John Entsminger, deputy counsel for the water authority.

“That would have been the best-case scenario,” he said. “There just wasn’t any time to get into this issue in any depth.”

The Legislature reached the same conclusion, declining to consider the quick fix to Nevada water law aimed at addressing questions raised by a recent Nevada Supreme Court ruling. … “

Continue reading this article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal by clicking here.

March 2, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Supply and Demand: Climate study looks at risks to water source , Researcher says solution likely multi-pronged

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 28, 2010 at 7:03 am

From the Las Vegas Sun:

“Water managers and scientists tracking climate change said Friday that they hope a new $2 million study will produce strategies for dealing with Southern Nevada’s primary water source on the Colorado River if supply dwindles and demand increases during the next 50 years.

The two-year study, which is under way, will look at risks to the supply if temperatures continue to increase as they have in the past decade, said Terry Fulp, the Bureau of Reclamation’s deputy regional director for the Lower Colorado Region. The study is funded by the bureau and the seven Colorado River Basin states.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty. We know very little about next year’s runoff,” Fulp said during a symposium in Boulder City sponsored by the Desert Research Institute, the research arm of the University of Nevada system.

He said the study will consider the predictability of precipitation and snowfall on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, which feeds the river and lakes Mead and Powell. … “

February 28, 2010 · Filed Under Climate change & water supply, Las Vegas & Nevada

1 Comment

Nevada head of Natural Resources: I am not carrying the water for SNWA

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 26, 2010 at 5:44 am

From Emily Green at the Chance of Rain blog:

“Governor Jim Gibbons’ instruction to the Nevada legislature to amend state law in a way that would retroactively legalize water awards made since 1947 will not render moot a recent state Supreme Court decision that threatens the future of a controversial Las Vegas pipeline project, a senior state official said today.

Rather, Allen Biaggi, head of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, insisted that the Governor’s instruction has been accompanied by proposed language that excludes from amnesty any awards made to the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

However, as pipeline protestors read the same document, they say they are better off staying in the courts and out of legislature.

Written by Biaggi, the language proposed to legislature would exclude awards of more than 250 acre feet per year, or involving inter-basin transfers, or ones that have been pending for more than seven* years or that are subject to court action.

In other words, Biaggi’s wording appears to exclude all awards made to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for the water pipeline that it proposes to run almost 300 miles through five valleys into the heart of rural Nevada.

“I have been getting hammered by a lot of people saying I am carrying the water for SNWA,” said Biaggi in a telephone interview. “I’m not.” … “

Continue reading this post from the Chance of Rain blog by clicking here.

February 26, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Officials work to fix Las Vegas pipeline project: Proposal could reopen state water rights hearings

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 25, 2010 at 6:07 am

From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

“If lawmakers agree to a quick change in Nevada water law, Las Vegas water officials will be forced to repeat the state hearing process for a key part of its pipeline project. But they won’t have to start over completely.

Allen Biaggi, director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, on Wednesday said Gov. Jim Gibbons has signed off on the proposed language for the water measure. It is now up to the Legislative Counsel Bureau to write the actual bill.

The proposal is meant to address a Jan. 28 Nevada Supreme Court ruling that could cloud thousands of pumping rights issued over a 55-year period and jeopardize plans to supply Las Vegas with water siphoned from across eastern Nevada.

Biaggi said the new language is intended to shore up the validity of the water filings called into question by the Supreme Court by narrowing the impact of the ruling to only the water authority’s applications for pumping rights in Spring Valley.

For those select filings, Biaggi said, the state would reopen a protest period that closed more than 20 years ago, back when Las Vegas officials first applied for the water. … “

Emily Green at the Chance of Rain blog has some thoughts on the latest developments:

“Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons has all but given back what late last month the state supreme court took away when today he released formal instruction to the state legislature to revise legislation “concerning the time in which the State Engineer must act upon a water rights application so that [it] applies retroactively to all applications filed with the State Engineer between July 1, 1947 and July 1, 2003 and so that provisions … apply retroactively to pending applications and applications/permits under appeal involving certain transfers of groundwater.”

The upshot? Fasten your seatbelt for some time travel. Those who protested the nearly 300-mile long pipeline planned by Las Vegas to draw rural groundwater for the city in 1989, and who under state law at the time should have been guaranteed a hearing in 1991, but didn’t get it until 2007, and who in early 2010 successfully convinced the Supreme Court of Nevada that they had been screwed have been screwed again. … “

Continue reading this post at the Chance of Rain blog by clicking here.

February 25, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Nevada Gov. Gibbons should block attempt to bypass Supreme Court ruling, says editorial

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 18, 2010 at 5:51 am

From the Ely Times, this editorial:

“One of the major flaws in the plan to place the nation’s civilian, high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain was how Congress toyed with the law.

Originally, there were to be three proposed sites for a repository. The governor in whatever state a site was proposed was to have the power to veto it.

Of course, the law became fluid once Nevada didn’t cooperate. There never were alternative sites. Only Yucca Mountain was studied.

Then Nevada’s governor proposed to veto that. So Congress simply changed the law, catering to the 49 states that didn’t want the dump in their back yards.

Now, a state agency plans on taking a similar tact with last months’ Nevada Supreme Court ruling … “

Continue reading this editorial from The Ely Times by clicking here.

February 18, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Gibbons leaves water law off Nevada’s special session agenda, for now

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 17, 2010 at 5:17 am

From the Las Vegas Sun:

“Gov. Jim Gibbons doesn’t plan to ask the Legislature to consider changing state water law during its special session, despite a recent court ruling that has potentially jeopardized an estimated 14,000 water rights statewide.

Allen Biaggi, director of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said the focus of the session must be on the ailing state economy.

A Nevada Supreme Court ruling overturned rural water rights awarded to the Southern Nevada Water Authority. The court ruled in January that state Engineer Tracy Taylor violated the law in 2007 when he approved rights for the water authority to withdraw 40,000 acre feet a year from Spring Valley in Eastern Nevada. The court ruled the state’s decision was not made within the one-year limit. … “

February 17, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Restoring water rights: Governor, Legislature should revisit decision that jeopardizes Nevada’s future, says editorial

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 15, 2010 at 6:18 am

From the Las Vegas Sun, this editorial regarding the recent Nevada Supreme Court decision:

” … The case before the Supreme Court came down to fine points of the law and the Legislature’s intent. State law requires that in all but certain circumstances, the state engineer decide a request to pump water within a year, and that did not happen in this case — the authority’s request was filed in 1989, but it took 17 years before the state engineer acted.

The crux of the matter was a 2003 law, passed at the behest of the Water Authority, allowing the state engineer to delay on “pending” water applications. The authority’s attorneys argued that it is retroactive to all prior requests. The court, however, called the law “ambiguous” and found that the authority’s request didn’t fit the definition of pending.

The Water Authority and the state attorney general’s office are asking the court to rehear or clarify its ruling. In the meantime, lawmakers and Gov. Jim Gibbons are discussing adding the issue to the agenda for the Legislature’s upcoming special session. Gibbons is considering it because the court’s ruling has potentially put 10,000 water rights applications dating back to 1947, including those in the rural areas, in jeopardy.

Gibbons should put this on the Legislature’s agenda for the good of the state. Rural water users’ rights should be affirmed, and it is vitally important that the pipeline project move forward. … “

February 15, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Recent rains make Lake Mead’s water level rise more than foot

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 13, 2010 at 6:26 am

From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

“Above-normal rainfall since mid-January has raised the water level of Lake Mead more than a foot at Hoover Dam. Only a fraction of that has occurred because of surface runoff from watersheds between lakes Powell and Mead, the Bureau of Reclamation said.

Bureau spokesman Bob Walsh said the rising water level is more a product of the rain reducing Colorado River water demand for agricultural use in Southern California and Southern Arizona. He said releases from Hoover Dam have been scaled back, leaving more water in the reservoir.

Eighty-five percent of the water that feeds the Colorado River water system comes from the snowpack that accumulates on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado. … “

February 13, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Pat Mulroy talks about collaborating with western water users

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 13, 2010 at 6:25 am

From CAPH20 posting on YouTube (via the Sisweb):

February 13, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Water could be contentious issue during Nevada Legislature’s special session

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 12, 2010 at 7:09 am

From the Las Vegas Sun:

“Gov. Jim Gibbons is considering placing on the agenda for this month’s special session legislation to change state water law and counter the impact a Nevada Supreme Court ruling that could affect thousands of water rights, including those needed for the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s pipeline project.

“We are considering adding it to the call,” said Lynn Hettrick, the governor’s deputy chief of staff. The special session, to start Feb. 23, is limited in what it can consider to the items listed by the governor.

Hettrick said Allen Biaggi, director of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, has proposed that the law be changed so as many as 10,000 water rights granted by the state will not be affected. Some of those water rights approved by the state would impact big developments, Hettrick said. … “

In a updated story, also in the Las Vegas Sun:

“State officials say the ruling could have far-reaching effects beyond the water authority’s pipeline project, affecting thousand of water rights granted back to 1947.

“I don’t know what he’s got up his sleeve,” Assemblyman Jerry Claborn, D-Las Vegas, chairman of the Assembly Natural Resources, Agriculture and Mining Committee, said of Gibbons’ plans. “But water is controversial.”

Susan Lynn, coordinator for the Great Basin Water Network, one of the winners in the court battle with the Southern Nevada Water Authority, wondered whether a special session would allow enough time to adequately discuss such a complex issue. Special legislative sessions are limited to 20 days.

“Water is a contentious issue that needs a lot of discussion,” she said.

But Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, a member of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, said finding a solution to the recent ruling wouldn’t need to prolong the special session. The Legislature must clarify a 2003 law to fully restore thousand of water rights, Coffin said.

“I don’t see it as being contentious,” Coffin said. … “

Yeah, right – water’s not contentious…. famous last words! Read more from the Las Vegas Sun by clicking here.

The Chance of Rain blog shares some thoughts:

” … the state engineer’s boss is now writing the Governor to ask for an item to be put on the agenda for a Special Session of the Nevada Legislature later this month. This item, described by the Las Vegas newspaper as a “quick fix,” will ask: Could the lawmakers please break from their tax crisis to revisit a bill that was crafted by Southern Nevada Water Authority lobbyists in 2003? It was intended to amend state law to retroactively strip the protestants of their due process rights going back to 1991, but clearly the Supreme Court needs this clarified.

Yes, you’ve got it: The boss of the man who is adjudicating the case between the protestants and Las Vegas says he’s going to write the Governor on behalf of Las Vegas to use the Legislature to get around the Supreme Court, which just censured his office. Nevadan jurisprudence has a phrase for it. It’s called “gaming the table.””

Read the full text of this post from the Chance of Rain blog by clicking here.

February 12, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Water officials rush to craft bill in response to court ruling

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 10, 2010 at 4:25 pm

From the Las Vegas Review Journal:

“Water officials will seek a quick legislative fix to a state Supreme Court ruling that could cloud thousands of water rights and jeopardize plans to supply Las Vegas with water siphoned from across eastern Nevada.

Allen Biaggi, director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, confirmed on Wednesday that he is crafting a bill for state lawmakers to consider during the special session which will start Feb. 23.

It will be up to Gov. Jim Gibbons to decide whether to add the proposed bill to the agenda for the special session.

Pat Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said her agency will ask the Supreme Court to stay its Jan. 28 ruling for 30 days and then hear a motion to reconsider its decision.

By then, she said, opponents of the ruling hope to have the new law in hand to clarify matters. … “

February 10, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

State wants Nevada Supreme Court to reconsider water rights ruling

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 10, 2010 at 6:31 am

From the Las Vegas Sun:

“The state is going to ask the Nevada Supreme Court to reconsider a decision that could impact thousands of water rights in rural counties.

Allen Biaggi, director of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said the decision of the court could affect water rights back to 1947.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority also intends to ask the Supreme Court to take another look at the ruling, which could significantly delay plans to pipe water from rural Nevada to Las Vegas.

At issue is a Supreme Court ruling that state engineer Tracy Taylor violated the law in 2007 when he approved rights for the water authority to withdraw 40,000 acre feet of water year from Spring Valley in Eastern Nevada. … “

February 10, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Engineering marvel taking shape near Hoover Dam

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 8, 2010 at 7:38 am

From the Las Vegas Sun:

“Less than a mile downstream from one of the nation’s best-known engineering marvels, the Hoover Dam, a second is taking shape.

A soaring 1,900-foot span across the gorge created by the Colorado River on the Arizona-Nevada border should be completed this fall, eliminating much of a sometimes hourlong bottleneck as traffic creeps over the dam on the key route between Phoenix and Las Vegas.

When it is scheduled to open in November, motorists will cross the longest bridge of its kind in the western hemisphere, with towering concrete columns that rise above a twin rib arch beneath them.

“It’s pretty spectacular,” said Sidney Spears, a 68-year-old retired truck driver from South Dakota, sitting at the dam and admiring the bridge 1,500 feet away. “This day and age, they are only limited by their imagination.” … “

The Federal Highway Administration updates the process and upcoming milestones of the Hoover Dam Bypass bridge project:

February 8, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Reno: Army mistake delays congressional OK for Truckee River flood control project

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 6, 2010 at 6:50 am

From the Reno Gazette-Journal:

“Errors made while rushing through a flood plan for the Truckee River will delay congressional approval by another year, possibly endangering Reno and Sparks with more floods before the project is ever built, officials say.

The delay until 2012 of federal authorization of the Truckee River Flood Project is the latest in a series for the long-discussed flood-control effort, designed to prevent disasters like the flood of January 1997.

As a result, officials said, the Truckee Meadows and its residents remain in danger.

“This keeps moving back,” said Ron Smith, a Sparks councilman who serves on a local coalition pursuing the flood project. “We’ve got a lot of risk out there and this is unacceptable.” … “

February 6, 2010 · Filed Under Flood Control, Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Chance of Rain blog: “There would just be so much litigation”

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 5, 2010 at 6:33 am

From Emily Green at the Chance of Rain blog:

“The Southern Nevada Water Authority is spinning so hard, it may need its own axis. This morning’s Las Vegas Review-Journal captures the angle and motion as the water agency led by Patricia Mulroy moves to defend the lawfulness of a massive haul of groundwater awards put into question last week by the Nevada Supreme Court decision Great Basin Water Network vs State Engineer.

Its defense, hinted at in a January 28 press release from the authority, is to insist that the Supreme Court was wrong to challenge awards that were to flush a nearly 300-mile-long Las Vegas pipeline because violating due process rights of protestors is a common practice of the State Engineer. … “

Continue reading this post at the Chance of Rain blog by clicking here.

February 5, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

State engineer fears ‘chaos’ from high court water ruling

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 4, 2010 at 7:44 am

From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

“Depending on how it is interpreted, last week’s surprise water ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court could mean “chaos” for thousands of water rights awarded over a 55-year span, the state’s chief water regulator said Wednesday.

If the ruling winds up nullifying every application for water that took more than a year to be acted on by the state, as many as 14,500 water rights issued between 1947 and 2002 could be affected, Acting State Engineer Jason King warned.

“I can’t even fathom it,” King said. “There would just be so much litigation, it would be gridlock.”

Already the decision has touched off a tidal wave of paperwork at the state engineer’s office in Carson City.

Since the ruling was handed down Jan. 28, 200 new water rights applications have come in from across the state as water managers seek to guard against the potential fallout from the high court’s action. … “

February 4, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Chance of Rain blog & the Las Vegas pipeline decision: “At long last, things are getting interesting”

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 3, 2010 at 6:27 am

From Emily Green at the Chance of Rain blog:

“Some comments deserve to be posts. This is the case of the response today of Eyewitness News investigative reporter George Knapp to Sunday’s feature There will be blood and its account of recent judicial reversals in the plan of the Southern Nevada Water Authority to drive a nearly 300 mile-long pipeline to the feet of the Great Basin National Park in a quest for groundwater for Las Vegas.

Knapp wrote: ”… the learning curve when it comes to water issues is perilous and steep, which is why most of the articles Nevadans are allowed to read about the subject are either ridiculously superficial or are the equivalent of re-written press handouts from the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s army of in-house ‘public information specialists’ … Already, the Nevada Supreme Court’s monumental [January 28] decision is being characterized by SNWA minions as a minor speedbump, a temporary procedural oopsie that will be rectified in a moment or two. It is clearly more than that.”

It clearly is. As Knapp points out, legal remedy for pipeline protestors found wronged in the Nevada Supreme Court decision is likely to be decided by a district judge who in October voided water awards in three of five valleys targeted by the project. … “

Continue reading this post at the Chance of Rain blog by clicking here.

February 3, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Las Vegas feels the fallout from the Supreme Court decision, and a profile of Pat Mulroy and her pipeline

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 31, 2010 at 7:49 am

Stunning news on Friday for Pat Mulroy and the Southern Nevada Water Authority. This morning’s Las Vegas Sun says the pipeline is not the only answer:

” … The Nevada Supreme Court’s ruling last week that upheaved multibillion-dollar plans to tap water from rural Nevada for the Las Vegas Valley has thrown into confusion the fate of a project that was once hailed as essential to the future of Las Vegas.

The ruling jeopardizes two decades of planning to draw water from the Great Basin to sate local needs, by concluding that the applications for water rights coveted by the Southern Nevada Water Authority had long ago expired.

This doesn’t spell the death of the pipeline project. The issue now returns to District Court. And for its part, the Water Authority reacted quickly to the court’s decision by immediately refiling its applications for water rights in eastern Nevada. The agency hopes to eventually have permission to draw water south to Las Vegas via a 300-mile pipeline.

Meanwhile, the door is open for hundreds of pipeline opponents who had been excluded from the process to finally protest the plan, a prospect that seems likely to throw more obstacles in its way. … “

Meanwhile, back at the headquarters … Journalist Emily Green traces the history of Pat Mulroy and the pipeline project in this post from Chance of Rain (an abridged version of this story is in the Las Vegas Sun today):

“Few among us will become the face of a catastrophe, but Pat Mulroy will. In 1989 the general manager of the Las Vegas Valley Water District staked her career on her ability to drive a pipeline nearly 300 miles north in order to tap the Great Basin aquifer.

Only Pat, her employees and the wishful have ever denied the ultimate cost of the water needed to fill this pipe. Rather, for the last two decades, the question has been: Where will the suffering be felt?

If Pat got the rural water, disaster would befall the Nevadan basins whose groundwater she intended to tap. If she didn’t, it would strike Las Vegas, whose irrepressible growth for much of the last two decades banked on the pipeline to refresh its dwindling supply of Colorado River water.

Until recently, smart money was on Las Vegas getting the water and five rural valleys in central, eastern Nevada getting the disaster. Look at a map and there are the target basins, little populated places lined up like long narrow flagstones leading half way to Salt Lake City: Delamar, Dry Lake, Cave, Spring and Snake valleys.

But recently the odds have swung in sudden and stunning ways against Las Vegas. … “

Continue reading at the Chance of Rain blog by clicking here.

January 31, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

1 Comment

Water Wired: A new proposal for leaving Las Vegas

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 31, 2010 at 7:42 am

Michael Campana at Water Wired continues the discussion from John Fleck’s post from yesterday, and proposes a solution for the water problems of the southwest:

” … instead of moving massive amounts of water around the continent, let me channel David Zetland and suggest that we provide financial incentives for people to depopulate places like Las Vegas, Phoenix, etc., and move to places like Detroit, Buffalo, Toledo, Akron, Pittsburgh, etc. … “

Read the full text of this post from Water Wired by clicking here.

January 31, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

State high court deals setback to pipeline proposal for Southern Nevada; Utah puts Snake Valley Water Agreement on Hold

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 29, 2010 at 6:46 am

From the Las Vegas Review Journal:

“A state Supreme Court ruling issued Thursday could seriously delay or halt a multibillion-dollar plan to supply Las Vegas with groundwater from across eastern Nevada.

In a stunning reversal of a District Court decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the groundwater applications underpinning the pipeline project might not be valid, raising the possibility that the Southern Nevada Water Authority will have to start the state permitting process all over again.

Within hours of the decision, Utah officials announced they were backing away from a water-sharing agreement with Nevada, and the authority filed a flurry of new water applications.

One longtime critic of the pipeline project, White Pine County Commissioner Gary Perea, called on the authority to “go back to the beginning and do this right” or “simply abandon the scheme and work to make Las Vegas sustainable.”

At issue are the dozens of applications filed by the Las Vegas Valley Water District with the state engineer in 1989 for unappropriated groundwater in rural areas as much as 300 miles away. … “

From the Millard County Chronicle Progress:

” … Governor Gary R. Herbert has directed that negotiations between the states of Utah and Nevada regarding water in the Snake Valley area be put on hold in light of a Nevada Supreme Court decision released today, Thursday, Jan. 28.

“This ruling significantly changes the landscape upon which our ongoing discussions have been based,” Governor Herbert said. “It allows us to revisit the proposed agreement with the State of Nevada and ensure that our continued desire to protect Utah’s water interests and the environment is met.” … “

January 29, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

1 Comment

Nevada Supreme Court tosses Las Vegas claims to rural water

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 28, 2010 at 4:16 pm

Oooo, some bad news for Las Vegas today handed down from the Nevada Supreme Court:

“The Supreme Court of Nevada today smacked down the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s claim to tens of thousands of acre feet of water in rural Nevada.

The court, ruling on an appeal from a 2007 district court decision, found some of the water rights in rural Nevada that the agency acquired from the state are invalid because the State Water Engineer’s Office took too long on the application.

The Water Authority sought the in-state water rights beginning in 1989, anticipating Nevada’s Colorado River allotment could not support rapid growth in the Las Vegas Valley. In the decades since, the Water Authority has implemented dramatic outdoor water conservation efforts, established a return flow credit system for water treated and returned to Lake Mead and brokered water deals on the Virgin and Muddy Rivers which have provided enough water for the massive growth of the past 20 years. … “

Yes, the ruling hinges on actions that began back in 1989, reports Emily Green from the Chance of Rain blog:

” … as the legal protest period to the original 1989 applications neared closing in August 1990, the number of protests had surpassed 3,000. Most of these protestants were gone, broke or dead by the time the State Engineer began holding basin-by-basin hearings that would award water claimed under the applications more than a decade later.

In its decision issued earlier today in Great Basin Water Network vs the State Engineer, the court concluded that due process rights of the protestors had indeed been violated and that “the State Engineer violated his statutory duty by failing to take action within one year after the final protest date. Thus, we … remand for a determination of whether SNWA must file new groundwater appropriation applications or whether the State Engineer must re-notice SNWA’s 1989 applications and reopen the period during which appellants may file protests.” … “

January 28, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Is Ely’s primary source of water drying up?

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 28, 2010 at 6:25 am

From the Ely Times:

“Is it taps for Murry Springs and [Ely's] primary water supply?

That depends – on whom you ask, on the weather, on what’s happening below, and on the city’s future water demands.

One thing is clear, however: the springs’ output has slowed down considerably, from its average normal output of 2,000 gallons per minute (gpm) to about 875 gpm, roughly 44 percent of its regular flow.

Ely Mayor Jon Hickman would like to blame the springs’ slowdown on the region’s ongoing drought and its effect on the aquifer or aquifers that feed the spring. While the mayor does make a connection between the low water table and Quadra Mining Ltd., which operates Robinson Nevada Mining Company, he’s careful when he speaks of the mine: Robinson Nevada Mining Company provides the area with more than 500 jobs.

Exactly why Murry Springs has slowed recently is anybody’s guess, city officials say. Over the years – eons – its flow has fluctuated dramatically. But the recent downturn has many residents and at least one businessman whose livelihood depends on the springs looking to mine for answers. … “

January 28, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Southern Nevada Water Authority: Ranch losses spur doubts; Properties bleed money, but official points to water rights

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 23, 2010 at 5:06 am

From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

“So far, the ranching business has not been kind to the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

During the past fiscal year, the authority lost more than $628,000 on its collection of working ranches in eastern White Pine County, and officials expect to lose at least $200,000 more this fiscal year.

That would bring the authority’s total operational losses to almost $1.47 million since the wholesale water agency spent almost $79 million to buy seven livestock operations in Spring Valley in 2006 and 2007.

Now water authority board members Steve Sisolak and Steve Kirk are calling on the agency to rein in its ranches — or at least do a better job of explaining why the bottom line isn’t the only concern in Spring Valley.

“Is there a break-even estimate, or are these things just going to lose forever?” Sisolak said Thursday after the board heard a financial update on the operations. “You can’t have a $78 million ratepayer investment and lose $600,000 a year.” … “

January 23, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

1 Comment

Nevada Supreme Court to expedite water rights case

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 23, 2010 at 5:03 am

From the Las Vegas Sun:

“CARSON CITY – The Nevada Supreme Court has agreed to speed up its consideration of the appeal of a lower court ruling to stop the Southern Nevada Water Authority from pumping water from rural areas of eastern Nevada.

Kay Brothers, deputy general manager of the water authority, said its legal brief is due Feb. 3 and the court has agreed to an expedited schedule.

Her statement was made today to the Legislative Committee on Public Lands.

If the authority loses, state engineer Tracy Taylor would need to consider more issues regarding drawing water from the Cave, Dry Lake and Delamar valleys, said Allen Biaggi, director of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. … “

January 23, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Las Vegas water use drops amid recession: Officials cite conservation drives

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 22, 2010 at 6:04 am

From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

“Valley residents consumed less water in 2009 than in any year for the past decade. Just don’t ask water managers to tell you why.

Southern Nevada Water Authority officials can’t definitively explain what caused water use to drop by more than 6 percent from the 2008 total, though several factors are likely at play.

Key among them is the recession, which halted growth in the valley, forced families to tighten their belts and triggered a wave of foreclosures that left thousands of homes vacant.

At many of those homes, the landscaping was left to die either out of simple neglect or by creditors looking to cut their losses.

Add to that the continued impact of communitywide conservation measures launched in 2003, and you’ve got the makings of a serious shift in consumption, water authority spokesman J.C. Davis said Thursday. … “

Read more from the Las Vegas Review Journal by clicking here.

Photo of Las Vegas Skyline by flickr photographer Christopher Chan.

January 22, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Charges dropped against irrigation district (update)

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 22, 2010 at 6:01 am

From the Lahontan Valley News:

“The Truckee-Carson Irrigation District announced Thursday all charges have been dropped in a federal indictment against TCID.

According to a press release, Judge James C. Mahan of the Federal District Court for the District of Nevada approved the dismissal with prejudice of all charges against TCID, Lyman McConnell, and John Baker in a federal indictment issued by a Grand Jury on Dec. 3, 2008.

“TCID has always asserted its innocence regarding these charges,” said Ernie Schank, president of the TCID board of directors. “In the face of some very significant motions filed by Michael Van Zandt, TCID’s defense counsel, based partially on alleged government misconduct during the investigation, and to its credit, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Reno took a look at the case and decided not to go forward with the prosecution of TCID.” … “

January 22, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Editorial: The long arm of Las Vegas?

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 21, 2010 at 2:18 pm

From the Capital Press, this editorial:

“Transfer of water from non-connected basins has long been troubling for farmers and fisheries managers in the West. Last week, Utah appeared ready to write another chapter in Las Vegas’ reach for every drop of water that can legally be squeezed from rocky aquifers beneath the Snake River Valley in far western Utah.

It’s a deal that once again raises the question of how far one can reach for out-of-basin water transfers. Unfortunately, this complex water raid has been going on so long and is being played out in arid rural country where folks are just plain worn out by the persistent push of politically connected Las Vegas boosters.

For a sampling of what worried residents think, one has only to go back to 2006 when the Nevada state engineer held hearings on in-state groundwater rights requested to supply a big pipe reaching northeast from Las Vegas. Over 4,000 written protests went into the record. The engineer, however, ended up granting over 114,000 acre-feet a year of ground water pumping rights to the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

That wasn’t enough for the Las Vegas plan, facing fierce resistance over the border in the Snake Valley. So, with the help of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the authority went to Washington, D.C., to force Utah to the negotiating table. … “

Red more of this editorial from the Capital Press by clicking here.

January 21, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

1 Comment

Snake Valley pumping very hard to monitor, says groundwater expert

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 19, 2010 at 6:08 am

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

“The Southern Nevada Water Authority proposes pumping groundwater from five desert basins in the Great Basin, including Snake Valley on the Nevada-Utah border, and piping the water south to Las Vegas. Under the proposed water-sharing agreement for Snake Valley, a monitoring plan is offered as a mechanism to control excessive adverse impacts.

The question is: Will monitoring work? The answer is that it is virtually impossible. Let me explain why.

Let’s simulate monitoring the impacts of groundwater pumping in a hypothetical valley in the Great Basin. Let’s say this hypothetical valley is 50 miles long and 25 miles wide and filled with typical permeable sand and gravel sediments. … “

January 19, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Intake issues: Southern Nevada Water Authority ensures the flow will continue

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 16, 2010 at 7:05 am

From Public Works Online:

“Climate conditions 600 feet below Saddle Island on the shores of Lake Mead in Nevada speak nothing of the decade-long drought that’s plagued the American Southwest in general and the Colorado River Basin in particular.

As galosh- and rainsuit-clad miners drill and blast an erection chamber for a soon-to-be-assembled tunnel-boring machine, water steadily rains down the access shaft, streams from the walls, and gurgles up from drill casings on the tunnel floor like an artesian well. Thermal in some places and cool in others, the water creeps through fissures in the metamorphic rock — a Precambrian block of amphibolite and gneiss surrounded by youthful tertiary volcanic rock — and drops as it pleases on the workplace below, despite continuing efforts to minimize it.

No shortage of water here.

But aboveground, the drought has prompted the Southern Nevada Water Authority to build a third intake on the lake, which provides 90% of the water supply to the 600-square-mile Las Vegas Valley but is at 43% of its storage capacity — a fact that’s painfully evident by the 130-foot-high “bathtub ring” around the 248-square-mile lake. The authority includes seven member Nevada agencies and was formed in 1991 to manage the region’s water needs. … “

January 16, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

10 reasons not to give Utah water to Nevada

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 16, 2010 at 6:54 am

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

“Utah’s tourism slogan is “Life Elevated.” Perfect irony, because what is most elevated in Utah is our air pollution — the worst in the country this week and hardly a boon to tourism.

But it could be worse. In fact, if Gov. Gary Herbert gives away Snake Valley water to Nevada, it will be. To continue massaging the fine print of the proposed agreement between the two states is like arguing over what tunes to play while the Titanic sinks. We offer 10 reality checks:

1. Any agreement will siphon enormous volumes of water from Snake Valley to support land speculators and casino operators in Las Vegas. Over 70 years, the water Utah surrenders to be piped to Southern Nevada would fill an acre-square skyscraper 471 miles high.

2. “Possession is 90 percent of the law.” Once Nevada has invested millions to make hundreds of thousands of people dependent on that water, no court will turn off the tap, regardless of the agreement, or whether Snake Valley has become a ghost town, or how much wind-blown dust covers Temple Square. … “

January 16, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Clean Water Coalition balks at localities’ request to return cash; Sewer service customers have been paying toward a wastewater pipeline Las Vegas may no longer need

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 10, 2010 at 7:25 am

From the Las Vegas Sun:

“A combination of improved water-filtering technology, the quagga mussel and the lousy economy could save Clark County residents nearly $1 billion.

The managers of the valley’s local governments are urging elected officials to force the quasi-governmental Clean Water Coalition to kill its plan to build an $860 million pipeline to flow treated wastewater deep into Lake Mead. Currently, the treated water flows down the Las Vegas Wash and into Las Vegas Bay.

The project was once seen as way to improve the mixing of treated water with lake water. But better wastewater treatment technology and the way the massive colonies of quagga mussels are filtering lake water should allow the valley to get by without the project.

On top of massive future savings, killing the pipeline might save taxpayers money on sewer bills and sewer connection fees. Both increased in recent years to build reserves needed to start pipeline plans and construction, and plans were to keep increasing connection fees every six months until January 2012 to cover some pipeline costs. … “

Read more from the Las Vegas Sun by clicking here.

Picture of Las Vegas Wash by flickr photographer Ken McCown (Creative Commons).

January 10, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Utah’s Governor Herbert Herbert pulling back on water deal; wants more information before signing

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 9, 2010 at 7:17 am

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

“Hand-delivered letters from elected officials in Salt Lake and Millard counties to Gov. Gary Herbert this week apparently have persuaded him to delay signing a Snake Valley water-sharing agreement between Utah and Nevada.

Earlier this week, the hotly disputed pact appeared ready to go. After a meeting Wednesday of the Snake Valley Aquifer Advisory Council, Herbert spokeswoman Angie Welling said the governor was ready for Mike Styler, executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, to sign the document.

“It’s just a matter of schedule at this point,” Welling said at the time.

On Friday, she said that while Herbert still hopes to sign an agreement, he first wants to address concerns laid out by the Millard County Commission and Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, whose letters asked for a delay pending more scientific study. … “

January 9, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment

Novel use of clean-water loans brightens outlook for Truckee River

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 8, 2010 at 6:19 am

From the New York Times:

“In a new use of loan money available through the Federal Clean Water Act, environmental officials have agreed to buy water to help restore one of Nevada’s most important rivers.

The agreement, signed this month by representatives of local, state and Federal governments and an Indian tribe, involves the Truckee River, which runs through downtown Reno to Pyramid Lake, 50 miles north, and is home to two endangered species of fish.

In droughts, including two in this decade, the Truckee runs dry here, and much of the water that flows to the lake is from the city’s sewage-treatment plant.

The accord is ”the first-of-its-kind use of clean-water loans” to buy water for a river, said a spokeswoman for the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, Loretta Ucelli. … “

Picture of the Truckee River by flickr photographer Ryan Holst (Creative Commons).

January 8, 2010 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

Share Your Thoughts - Post A Comment