The Big Sip Stalls

May 06, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) Negotiations have stalled in a debate between Nevada and Utah over the ownership of water in a massive underground aquifer spanning both states. Las Vegas wants to tap the area's deep carbonate aquifer, but the plan could be environmentally catastrophic for the entire Great Basin region, says Steve Erickson of the Great Basin Water Network.

"If we don't weigh-in strongly against this pipeline down in Las Vegas, we could see, worst-case scenarios, a defoliation of the Great Basin. In other words, turning it into a giant dust bowl," Erickson says. "The potential is quite devastating for our air quality, there will also be impacts on the Great Salt Lake and the Wildlife Refuges throughout the Great Basin."

Speaking yesterday on KCPW's Midday Metro, Erickson says the plan to pipe water from the aquifer to Las Vegas is held up by several independent processes currently underway. Next month, the Nevada State Engineer is expected to decide on whether unallocated water elsewhere in the state could meet the need in Las Vegas. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the project should be available for public comment this winter or early spring. Around the same time, the hearing process for adjudicating the water rights for residents of Utah's rural Snake Valley along the Nevada border should begin. Farmers and ranchers in the region largely depend on groundwater from the disputed aquifer to irrigate their crops, Erickson says.

"This is all about money," Erickson says. "And there are other alternatives. Las Vegas could turn to desalination on the coast and trade the water back to California. They could do a much better job of conservation, which is the cheapest alternative for them. But no, they'd just as soon take the water, because it's free for them. So they're essentially stealing the resources from their rural neighbors."

Utah lawmakers have publicly denounced Nevada's plan to pipe water from the aquifer. However, Erickson says there is a lot of political pressure to move the project forward from Nevada's Congressional delegation, which includes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the most powerful Democrat in the country. Erickson predicts lawsuits will eventually settle the issue.

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