EXPORTING EASTERN NEVADA GROUNDWATER TO LAS VEGAS

Rural Residents Livelihoods and Environmental Impacts in Southern and Eastern Nevada Could be Severe

Sixteen years ago rural eastern Nevadan's were dealt a blow.  Las Vegas' Water Agency applied for more than a hundreds new well locations with plans to pump large amounts of water from eastern Nevada and export it to the city.  After sitting on the applications since 1989, the water agency (now consisting of all Clark County water agencies called the "Southern Nevada Water Authority", or SNWA) has applied to the US Bureau of Land Mangement for the right to build, on your public land, hundreds of miles of pipelines and powerlines as well as pumping stations and roads and other facilities. The BLM is getting ready to develop the Environmental Impact Statement on the pipeline network.  Except for approximately 8900 acre-feet of water rights granted in January 2005 to SNWA, the State Engineer has not yet approved the majority of the pending water rights applications.  A hearing is set for September 11 in Carson City on SNWA applications in Spring Valley in on the west side of Great Basin National Park. (See a more complete background here on the water export plans of SNWA)

• White Pine County Land Act Passes: Sierra Club wins some changes

• White Pine County Land Act text, complete maps, summary, analysis

• Listen to NPR stories on lands bills, rural groundwater exports to Las Vegas growth (link to www.npr.org)
  

• Sierra Club comments on Spring Valley Nevada State Engineer Hearing (pdf)
  

• SNWA Pipeline EIS process (link to BLM EIS website)
  

• No Pumps, No Pipelines II Water Tour June 2006 -- Experience the tour here and see our visit with the rural residents of Lincoln and White Pine Counties and why their water is threatened from SNWA pumping and exportation plans

• Water in Nevada: A basic overview of hydrologic principles as related to America's driest State by Mike L. Strobel 

• Now Available for download:  Nevada Water Issues 2006:  A Handbook for Public officials, the Press, and the Public   

• US Geological Survey and the University of Nevada's Desert Research Institute Carbonate Groundwater Study Begins
  

• Official BLM Description and Maps of the Proposed Groundwater Exportation Project (from 2005)
  

• Water Network:  A coalition of rural and urban interests to protect rural water

• At risk:  endemic fish, wildlife, and plants from water exportation and pipelines.

• Groundwater Factoids  -- from the 2004 Groundwater Workshops sponsored by PLAN and the Sierra Club

• Video (VHS) Available!  Lessons for Nevada - 2004.Remember Owens Valley?  Owens Valley: The Making of a wasteland - 1989

• Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation, and Development Bill

• The Club and the Water Network opposed the Lincoln County Bill (2004) along with a coalition of rural residents, farmers, Las Vegans, and many others

• Rural Water Road Tour 2004 -- Experience the "No Pumps and Pipelines 2004 Road Tour" here and see our visit with the rural residents of Lincoln and White Pine Counties and why their water is threatened from SNWA pumping and exportation plans