Clark, Lincoln and White Pine Counties
Groundwater Development Project

With the intention to develop and convey up to 200,000 acre-feet per year of groundwater from seven hydrographic basins in northern Clark, central Lincoln and eastern White Pine Counties, the Water Authority in August 2004 applied to the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the right to build wells and pipelines across federal lands.

The water right permitting process is separate from the right-of-way process and SNWA has groundwater rights and applications in hydrographic basins in Clark, Lincoln and White Pine counties.

The Nevada Office of the State Engineer is responsible for deciding whether to approve SNWA's water rights applications.

If both water rights and rights-of-way are granted by the appropriate state and federal agencies, SNWA will build a number of groundwater production wells, pipelines and other facilities to pump water from groundwater wells. The water will be used to serve SNWA purveyor members in the Las Vegas Valley and customers of the Lincoln County Water District in Coyote Spring Valley.

SNWA will build monitoring facilities to evaluate the impact of pumping on the groundwater basins. It is not currently anticipated that this project will be completed prior to 2014.

SNWA submits plan of development revision

In July 2007, SNWA submitted a revised draft Conceptual Plan of Development (PDF) for the project to the BLM. The overall quantity of water and size of the primary pipeline is the same. However, at the request of the BLM, the Water Authority has updated the document by adding detail to descriptions such as the construction schedule, mitigation measures, rights of way, etc. SNWA engineers also made infrastructure adjustments as more information has been collected.

State Engineer approves Spring Valley Applications

In April 2007, the Nevada State Engineer approved a major portion of the groundwater rights applications submitted by the SNWA for the Spring Valley in White Pine County, enabling the development of 60,000 acre-feet annually of groundwater from the basin.

Under terms of the decision, SNWA can pump 40,000 acre-feet annually from the basin for 10 years. At that point, SNWA will be allowed an additional 20,000 acre-feet annually from the basin based on the results of monitoring and impact analysis.

The State Engineer's approval also requires the protection of existing groundwater rights in the basin, the ability for future groundwater growth and development in Spring Valley and a comprehensive monitoring, management and environmental mitigation plan.

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