The Great Basin (about 1/15 of the total land mass of the US, mostly in Nevada) has plentiful amounts of water just waiting in its aquifers for thirsty minions in Southern Nevada to slurp down, via hundreds of miles of proposed pipelines into Lake Mead. The geography of the Great Basin is unique. Water flows down from 351 mountain ranges and never flows out. Instead, it just sits there, eventually seeping in to aquifers. There are vast open and empty valleys, few people, and Southern Nevada thinks, dang it, they should certainly be allowed to share in that water. But tragically, ranchers, American Indians and residents of the Great Basin disagree, saying pumping out huge amounts of water will damage their land, vegetation, wild life, crops, and lifestyle, so like David, they’ve fought Goliath, and at least for now appear to be winning.
Hey, I live in Vegas and agree with the Great Basin. It’s their water. The photo was taken Saturday in the tiny town of Baker, at the entrance to Great Basin National Park. It should be mentioned that Vegas is a world leader in reclaiming and reusing water. However, like the Metropolitan Water District in southern California, it always wants access to more.
Southern Nevada Water Authority’s (SNWA) plans to convey millions of gallons of groundwater from central and eastern Nevada to Las Vegas have generated a deluge of legal challenges at the state and federal level. At the state level, the Nevada Supreme Court recently ruled on appeals of Judge Estes’ district court decision sought by SNWA and the State Water Engineer; the appeals were pursued to overturn Estes’s decision issued on December 10, 2013. As it now stands, SNWA and the State Engineer must comply with the Judge Estes’s order and the requirement to demonstrate that SNWA’s proposed groundwater mining and export operation will be sustainable and will not cause impermissible impacts on the environment and existing water rights holders, such as ranchers, farmers and local business.