Posted on 03/23/2004 9:07:21 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Today: March 23, 2004 at 17:20:50 PST
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - A Southern Nevada Water Authority lawyer tried Tuesday to undercut opposition to the agency's plan to pipe groundwater from arid, remote areas of Clark and Lincoln counties to meet growing Las Vegas demands.
Paul Taggart spent hours questioning representatives of federal agencies that have opposed the pumping plan - with many of his questions focusing on potential impact on Devil's Hole, a deep, 10-by-30-foot cave of hot, fresh water that's home to the rare Devil's Hole Pupfish.
At one point, Taggart asked Charles Pettee of the U.S. Park Service why the Park Service objected to the water authority's plan but didn't raise similar objections when the federal Department of Energy sought water-pumping rights at its proposed nuclear waste dump, northwest of Las Vegas and near Devil's Hole.
During a state water engineer's hearing on the pumping plan, Taggart added that all the Park Service had from the DOE was a commitment to monitor Devil's Hole and mitigate any problems. He added, "My question is, why isn't that good enough for the Southern Nevada Water Authority?"
Pettee said that if a monitoring plan was in place to ensure safety of the pupfish, which has survived in part because of a 1976 federal court ruling later affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Park Service could consider dropping its protest.
But for now, Pettee said, "Our position is we don't have enough technical information to have confidence" that the water authority's pumping wouldn't harm areas such as Devil's Hole.
Taggart also questioned why the Park Service should be so uncertain given the extensive studies that have been conducted for the Yucca Mountain waste dump project, and for the Nevada Test Site. Those studies, Taggart added, have gone on "ad naseum" with the result that water in the Devil's Hole area is "the most studied groundwater system on the planet."
Other agencies pressing for close monitoring of the water pumping include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the federal Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Geologic Survey.
The agencies have been joined by farmers, rural government representatives and environmentalists in questioning the plan. Other opponents include the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians, Ely Shoshone Tribe, the town of Pahrump and other communities in the area.
All have urged Nevada's state water engineer to be cautious in weighing the pumping request that was part of a 1989 water grab by the Las Vegas Valley Water District.
The state engineer's hearing was expected to run most of the week, and the water authority will state its case at the end. State Engineer Hugh Ricci expects to issue a decision before the end of the year - and that decision could lead to a court appeal no matter how he rules.
In advance of the hearings, Pat Mulroy, general manager of the SNWA, said she understands the rural Nevadans' concerns. But she added the authority must supplement its supplies in the face of a prolonged drought.
The battle over rural water rights has gone on for years, and has picked up in response to a a five-year drought in southern Nevada. The seven applications now up for review were among nearly 150 filed in late 1989.
If the SNWA can get Ricci's approval, it will pump water from the Three Lakes Valley first. A pipeline that could cost as much as $40 million would bring up to 7,000 acre feet of water a year to the Las Vegas water system by 2007.
Water could be drawn from the adjacent Tikaboo Valley beginning in 2011. Both are located north of Las Vegas, in northern Clark and southern Lincoln counties.
The pumping plan is seen as the first step in a long-range plan that could involve a $1 billion pipeline system capable of drawing water from farther north in Lincoln County and into White Pine County.
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Local politics though proved to be insurmountable.
Will the Las Vegas groundwater require desalinization?
That seems to be a problem in the Southwest.. (NM, AZ.)
However, in Orange County an RO plant was bid last week. The winning bid was almost 300 million. This plant will take secondary water, run it through an RO system and then re-inject it into the groundwater for later removal for drinking purposes.
The name of the project is Ground Water Replenishment System. Because the bid came in at more then 10% over the Engineers estimate of $252.6 million, it is possible the project will be rebid. The idea of drinking treated wastewater directly is not acceptable to the public.
That alone was reason enough to get rid of that guy.
Closing the Mexican border would be one real good start!
Which is an indictment of the electorate and not a reflection on his accomplishments as Mayor.
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