LAS VEGAS -- The future of southern Nevada's water supply was being fought over. The state engineer began hearing all sides of the debate over a pipeline project that would bring water from Lincoln and White Pine Counties to Clark County.
The state engineer is running what looks and feels like a court trial. It began with opening statements Monday morning at the legislature in Carson City. Up first, the Southern Nevada Water Authority attacked water pipeline critics.
"They ignore the most up to date data and they offer opinions far outside the fields of their expertise. The opposers are not bound by science, facts, or the law. They advance a position of how the world should be, not how it is. They live in a world where they do not have to serve two million customers. No one calls on them in the middle of the night if their water doesn't come out of the tap," said SNWA attorney Paul Taggart.
The SNWA wants to pump out groundwater from springs and surrounding basins in eastern Nevada. The authority's own report estimates the pipeline could cost as much as $15 billion over 60 years.
The SNWA fears that with Lake Mead getting within six feet of shortage levels, they need to secure a long-term water supply away from the Colorado River. Lake Mead's water level rose 30 feet since February.
Attorneys for local ranchers laid out their opposition.
"You can't restore the water-carrying capacity that's lost. You can monitor it, you can observe it and in the end you can lament it, but you can't fix it. When those springs go dry, every animal that lives in them will die," said Cleveland Ranch attorney Paul Hejmanowski. "The birds, maybe they can fly to another source of water. The others, they can learn to drink dust."
A large ranch owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the tribes of the Goshute Indian Reservation and environmental groups have formed an alliance of opposition. Their studies show pumping groundwater from Spring Valley and surrounding basins will turn the area dry within a few decades.
With weeks left expected of witnesses, testimony and cross-examination, the state engineer will have much to weigh. The stakes are high, with both sides claiming the fate of Nevada itself hangs in the balance.
