TONOPAH -- John Buchanan, a real estate broker with Tri-State Realty in Pahrump, said an amendment to county code requiring the relinquishment of two acre feet of water rights for parcels 4.5 acres or less would stifle development plans in Amargosa Valley.

Nye County commissioners, in enacting the requirement, said Tuesday they were simply trying to get ahead of the effective date of Senate Bill 275, passed in the last legislature, which allows the state engineer to decide the requirements after Jan. 1, 2008.

Buchanan said with an acre foot of water costing about $5,000, it could add a substantial fee to cheaply-priced lots in Amargosa Valley.

Buchanan said he represents a developer who wants to subdivide a 250-acre parcel called Frontier Estates into five-acre and 2.5-acre lots a mile from the Amargosa Valley School. He figures it's an ideal location for the 2,000 employees that will likely work at the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository by 2010, according to the Nye County Gateway Plan.

Coache said Amargosa Valley has 18,000 more acre feet of water rights on paper than the valley receives in its perennial yield.

Amargosa Valley Town Board Chairwoman Jan Cameron suggested under the law the county commissioners could ask that water rights be relinquished to the county instead of the state engineer so they could bank the water rights for future use.

"If you stay at the five acres, you are going to have some severe impacts on communities such as Amargosa Valley. You will virtually stop growth. There are very limited water rights currently available that are not held by the federal government, which has many, or by the dairy," she said.

Cameron complained that someone having to divide up four parcels on five acres of land would have to provide six acre feet of water rights. The original proposal called for a requirement on five gross acres or less, but it was reduced to 4.5 acres at the suggestion of Commissioner Butch Borasky.

Coache said a municipal water system would get credits for the acre feet of water, but he conceded the creation of such a municipal water system in Amargosa Valley probably wouldn't happen in his lifetime.

Senate Bill 275 didn't specify acreage for relinquishing water rights, Coache added.

"It's a one-for-one exchange. You take water rights off the books for each water right created for these domestic wells. The basins over-appropriated, but it stays in balance for the amount of over-appropriation," Coache said. "I'm on the record in Pahrump, saying the relinquishment of water rights for domestic wells should be five or six acre feet. Then you'll start gaining and getting rid of the deficit."

Nye County Commission Chairman Gary Hollis felt the valley had a more abundant supply of water, judging from test wells drilled for the Yucca Mountain project. Coache said Nye County would have to show the perennial yield of the Amargosa Valley is greater than the existing water rights, which would have to be proven with Death Valley groundwater flow models.

Real estate agent Marlene Rogoff said the water right relinquishment shouldn't happen at the time of parceling but when owners are ready to drill a well.

"Until you're actually going to get ready to get the process to drill a well, you're really not going to be using those water rights," Rogoff said.

Real estate agent Michael DeLee, said via email, "This was a top-down, administratively-driven effort neither prompted nor asked for by the citizenry."

DeLee said SB 275 didn't designate any specific basins. He questioned whether Nye County officials had information about stricter state regulations coming down the pike with SB 275.

"Is the county proposing something that goes beyond SB 275?" DeLee asked. "If not, why not just let SB 275 apply, and if it's not broke, why fix it?"

DeLee complained the requirement for relinquishing water rights in Pahrump Valley was 1.12 acre feet per parcel for many years, which equates to using about 1,000 gallons per day. Nye County Manager Ron Williams said the proposal to relinquish two acre feet of water was to keep the requirements for Amargosa Valley equal with the current regulations in Pahrump Valley. The state engineer's office is concerned over rapid parceling of lots in Amargosa Valley.

The bill also affects residents of Ralston Valley and Big Smoky Valley. But Wiliams said, "The state engineer's office is only concerned in Amargosa because of what's going on in Amargosa right now."

The occupation of the people protesting the ordinance didn't escape Commissioner Joni Eastley.

"With the exception of Ms. Jan Cameron, who offered some very salient points, I have only heard from developers who are interested in pursuing projects in Amargosa Valley without apparent regard to protection of our most valuable resources there," she said.

It took a few tries for Borasky to make a motion. Williams convinced commissioners Nye County has a hard enough time managing the water rights it currently has. Borasky eventually amended his proposal to relinquish water rights to the state engineer instead.

Coache said passage of the county ordinance would probably leave the state engineer to conclude nothing has to be done in Amargosa Valley.

"The state engineer and I personally believe that the counties should take care of themselves. I'm not a person that likes excessive government personally," Coache said.

Cameron persuaded commissioners to delay implementing the ordinance until Nov. 5. Williams predicted a rush of parcel map applications, similar to what happened when a similar requirement was instituted in Pahrump.

"It was a big deal, it was very painful. Let me tell you, I had guys throwing maps at me as I was driving out of Pahrump trying to come home," Williams said.

Buchanan said county planners have 60 days to review a parcel map or they are automatically approved. If SB 275 were allowed to take effect Jan. 1 it would've allowed more time for filing maps.

"We're submitting maps yesterday and today as fast as we can," Buchanan said Thursday.