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August 10, 2005
PIPELINE PROJECT Las Vegas not after our waterMULROY: PAHRUMP WILL HAVE TO IMPORT ITS OWN WATER NEEDS AS IT CONTINUES TO GROW
By DOUG McMURDO
The general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority met with the Pahrump Valley Times on Monday to explain, among other things, that there are no plans to tap into Nye County's water supply even though Clark County filed on water rights available in Railroad Valley - situated in the northeast corner of Nye - along with dozens of other water basins across the state in 1989. Pahrump, Mulroy agreed, has a water issue of its own to wrestle. The Water Authority has already entered into an agreement with Lincoln County to build a $2 billion pipeline from southeastern Nevada to Clark, but the entity hasn't had as much luck with officials in White Pine County. Mulroy and Tracy Bower, her public information officer, are driving across the state offering history lessons as well as the reasoning behind the controversial pipeline project. Mulroy on Monday explained why the need is there and how the project would be developed. In the early 1990s Clark County was allowed to overuse the Colorado River water that supplies the 2-million-plus residents of Clark County for a period of 15 years, and it was also allowed to store water in Arizona for future use. Then came the drought that has plagued the Southwest for the past five to seven years. Mulroy said the long dry spell is the worst experienced by the Colorado River since the mid-1500s. "Nobody expected five years of drought," she said. "Nobody expected lakes Mead and Powell to be so impacted. In other words, the wild yet reliable Colorado River is not as dependable a water source as once thought, especially in the face of the exponential growth that Clark County has experienced over the past 25 years, not to mention the equally high growth rate of California, which receives the bulk of the Colorado's ever-dwindling supply of water. To keep the taps running, Clark negotiated with Lincoln County and the two political subdivisions are now in the process of facilitating shared use - "What's the point of building two pipelines," said Mulroy - that would create a $300 million savings for the perennially cash-strapped Lincoln County. As for Nye County, Mulroy said the water rights filings for Railroad Valley were not activated due solely to growth in Pahrump. "We never filed (for water rights) in Pahrump, and we have not activated the Railroad Valley rights because one day that water will be needed in the Pahrump Valley," she said. Growth in Lincoln and White Pine counties, on the other hand, is somewhat stagnant when compared to Pahrump. Nobody, at the moment, lives in the basins in Lincoln County that will have water piped to Las Vegas, and five ranchers reside in the area of White Pine County from which Las Vegas hopes to take water. But White Pine County officials refuse to discuss the issue with the Water Authority, said Mulroy, adding, Lincoln County has economic development in mind; White Pine wants protection. Ely, the county seat of White Pine, is situated in the Steptoe Valley. The Water Authority has not activated filings in the valley, but in the next valley over. Another huge concern for many residents - across the West - is the environmental impact such pipelines will have on indigenous species. Mulroy said the Water Authority would review the use of water every 75 years to monitor the impacts. She also said if any difficulties crop up - such as heavy development in Lincoln or White Pine counties - then "we would back off if there's a problem." An oversight committee will also be formed consisting of members from throughout the state. The committee would address such issues as increasing annual recharge and monitor drought situations. As for taking water from a basin outside of Clark County, Mulroy pointed out that virtually every community - outside of Las Vegas and Pahrump - receives its water from a basin outside its boundary. "This is a Nevada issue, not a Las Vegas issue," she said. Nevada's first water law was written in 1905, and the underpinning of that law is to give state officials the ability to "move water around. They (state lawmakers) knew there would never be enough in one place." And that brings us full circle back to Pahrump. "You'll never solve Pahrump's problem without bringing in water from someplace else," she said. Currently, Pahrump receives roughly 27,000 acre-feet of annual recharge from the snowmelt off Mt. Charleston - not the mythical, bottomless aquifer - and the town is consuming slightly more than it receives each year. The situation is known as overdraft. Conservation is critical. While growth in Pahrump has averaged about 100 new residents per month for the past several years, between 6,000 and 7,000 people are moving to Clark County each month. Still, thanks in large part to conservation measures, Clark County today uses 65,000 acre-feet of water less per year than it did a decade ago. Water restrictions, aggressive conservation efforts - including putting Clark County-based golf courses on "diets and enforcing times and hours of lawn watering - have paid dividends. In fact, Clark County residents who replace sod with desert-friendly landscape are being paid $1 for every square foot of sod they remove from their property. The measures were put in place in reaction to the drought, but now there is talk of making them permanent. Seventy percent of water consumption is used on landscaping, said Mulroy. Still, no conservation measures, no matter how draconian, would ever allow Clark County to sustain itself on its current water supply - 90 percent comes from the Colorado River and the remaining 10 percent from Mt. Charleston runoff. The future does hold promise, however. Mulroy said desalination techniques now in place in Saudi Arabia are far too cost prohibitive and there are still serious concerns on how to deal with the disposal of brine, but technological advances could make "desalting" ocean water a viable alternative. But if there are no guarantees in ordinary life, there are certainly no guarantees in anything in which Mother Nature plays a role. "We don't know what will happen," said Mulroy. "In the West there's this perception of 'permanent' water rights. But Mother Nature can take them away." |
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