TONOPAH -- Seven members were appointed to the new Nye County Water District Tuesday. They will have wide-ranging powers to manage that resource.

Nevada Revised Statute 542 states the county water district will provide for the acquisition, storage, sale and distribution of water. The board will have the ability to incur indebtebtness and issue bonds; acquire land and water rights; authorize construction projects for the development, importation or distribution of water; levy and collect taxes.

The creation of the board is modeled after the creation of the Lincoln County Water District in 2003. In 1947, the Nevada legislature created the Las Vegas Valley Water District by a similar act. The board will be exempt from regulation by the Public Utilities Commission.

The first meeting of the new board is scheduled for 1:30 p.m., March 16.

The appointed members include:

* Former Nye County Commissioner Roberta "Midge" Carver, representing northern Nye County including Smoky Valley and Currant Creek;

* Tonopah Town Manager James Eason, representing the Tonopah area;

* Former County Commissioner Bobby Revert to represent the Beatty-Amargosa Valley area;

* Robert Cameron, from Amargosa Valley, as the county's at-large member;

* Three members to represent Pahrump -- Dan Harris, from Hollis Harris Realty; Tim McCall, broker for Terry Hand Realty; and water rights broker Donna Lamm.

The 2007 state legislature approved Senate Bill 222, which allowed the establishment of a county water district. It prescribed the manner of representation. Three of the terms will expire this July 1 under a staggered arrangement outlined in the legislation -- commissioners decided that would be Carver, Revert and Harris. The terms of the other four members expire in July 2010.

Commissioner Gary Hollis made the motion to appoint the members, which was approved unanimously. There was no discussion on the appointments.

Harris said he requested his term expire this July as he may be participating in the Great Race next year, a timed endurance event using classic cars that recreates a 1908 race across America.

During the first request for applicants, there were plenty of interested members from the Pahrump and Beatty-Amargosa Valley area but none from the northern county. Eventually Eason turned in his name for the Tonopah seat.

Before taking the Tonopah town manager position in 2005, Eason was a design engineer for SBC Nevada Bell. He holds a bachelor of science degree from the University of Nevada, Reno in business logistics.

Cameron, an Amargosa Valley landowner since the early 1970s and permanent resident since 1992, retired in 2008 from Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, providing oversight for management of subcontracts for the defense contractor.

Cameron was formerly chairman of the Amargosa Valley Town Board, was chairman of the Nye and Esmeralda Economic Development Authority, now EDEN Inc., and is the husband of current Amargosa Town Board Chairman Jan Cameron.

Revert is a 65-year resident of Nye County who served 14 years as a county commissioner and five years on the Valley Electric Association board of directors representing Beatty.

Harris formerly owned Desert Utilitlies Inc. before it was sold to Focus Property Group. Ownership of a utility company would have barred him from a seat on the water board.

He has been a partner in Harris Ltd. with his father, Pahrump pioneer Holllis Harris, since 1981. Harris Ltd. is a real estate development company that created subdivisions like Desert Trails, Jocelyn Estates and Majestic Estates.

Lamm has been a Pahrump resident since 1978. She served on the Pahrump Regional Planning Commission, the fairgrounds advisory board, Pahrump Valley Community Action Team, tourism committees and recently a comprehensive rezoning task force.

She has been brokering the sale of water rights in Pahrump basin since the mid 1990s. She is a member of the wellhead protection team, the Southern Nye County Conservation District and the Amargosa Conservancy.

McCall said he comes from a family with a long history of farming, ranching and growing citrus. He has been licensed to sell real estate since 1997. McCall also served on the comprehensive zoning task force which was charged with zoning a remaining 1,251 parcels in Pahrump Valley.

Carver's application wasn't included in the backup information for the agenda item. She decided not to seek re-election. Her term expired in January.

Some qualified applicants didn't make the cut. They include:

* James Weeks, who recently retired as general manager of the Beatty Water and Sanitation District;

* Walt Kuver of Pahrump, who owns Directed Solutions and was a consultant for the Nye County nuclear waste repository program who participated in the Nye County water resources plan and was the county's representative on the Southern Nevada Water Authority pipeline plan;

* Pete Wallace, a retired U.S. Navy Seabee heavy equipment operator who advocates ocean desalination;

* Robert Dole, a slot route technician for ETT Inc., who owned his own computer business in Silicon Valley, Calif., for 14 years and unsuccessfully ran for county commissioner last year.

Darrell Lacy, director of the Nye County Nuclear Waste Project Office, said it's the intention of the county commissioners to meet with the water district board during its first meeting.

Lacy said he will be seeking approval from the U.S. Department of Energy to use part of a $1 million groundwater evaluation grant to pay for the $166,828 annual operating budget for the remainder of this fiscal year.

The board will be in charge of hiring a general manager, the budget allocates $53,000 for that position for the remainder of this year plus $16,000 for a pickup.

The water board will be allowed to request federal grants.