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Aug. 20, 2004
COUNTY COMMISSION NEWS No end to drought in sight
By DOUG McMURDO The good news is Clark County did not come with a plan to take Nye County water resources. The bad news is that officials consider the drought one of the 10 worst in 500 years, and likely the most severe in the last 100 years - with no relief in sight. A Water Authority representative reported on issues that mainly impact Clark County, such as the significant drought in the upper Colorado River basin, from which Las Vegas derives 300,000 acre feet per year. Snowmelt that feeds the river is down again this year. And while water recharge has not approached average levels in at least five years, the representative said conditions in 2004 are better than 2002, when precipitation met only 25 percent of the average. By comparison the spokesman said inflows are projected to reach 84 percent of average this year, with the yield meeting only 51 percent of average. The dry conditions and the impact on Lake Mead in Lake Powell have resulted in the loss of an entire storage system since both lakes combined are at 50 percent of normal capacity. A meeting to further discuss the crisis will be held from 4-6 p.m. Aug. 30 at the Nye County School District's Pahrump office on Wilson Road. In other county commission news: • Commissioners on Tuesday denied, temporarily perhaps, a request from the Nye County School District board of trustees, which asked to have one of its members appointed to the Pahrump Regional Planning Commission. While the position would be as a non-voting liaison, commissioners could not take action for a pair of legal reasons. Chief Civil Deputy District Attorney Ron Kent advised commissioners, who appoint Pahrump residents as planners, that state law prohibits any government board from having over a third of its membership comprised of public officials. Also, there are questions related to the bylaws of the planning commission over whether an additional member could be added, as well as legal concerns regarding any likely benefits the school district could derive. The board agreed to deny the issue based on a recommendation from Candice Trummell, but legal research into the matter might result in a reversal of that decision in the near future. • Les Bradshaw, the outgoing director of the county's Department of Natural Resources and Federal Facilities, will have to do at least a little work on his last day as a public servant Sept. 7. Bradshaw was tasked with a scope of work and budget allowing Nye County to take on a leading stewardship role in a regional alliance regarding the area's water resources. A workshop on the troubled Devils Hole at the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, situated between Pahrump and Amargosa Valley off the Bob Ruud Memorial Highway (Bell Vista Avenue), resulted in the aggressive movement to address the drought that has impacted the riparian area. • Commissioners agreed to promote the county's Web site www.nyecounty.net in county newspapers and on local television and radio stations. • The county's search for a comptroller was extended for two weeks to allow the human resources department to widen its scope. Also, the process of hiring a human resources director has narrowed to two candidates. A final decision could be announced next month. |
