Water wars to begin for rural Nevada

"Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over." - attributed to Mark Twain

It's been along time coming, but the water wars are about to begin in rural Nevada.

The water grab is shaping up to be as hot an issue as Yucca Mountain or MX, the Air Force's ill-conceived scheme in the late 1970s to base nuclear missiles in the Great Basin.

Sixteen years ago, Southern Nevada Water Authority filed on all of the unappropriated water in much of rural eastern Nevada, in parts of northern Clark, Nye, Lincoln and White Pine counties.

Now they are focusing attention on these areas in preparation for a comprehensive environmental impact statement on the impacts of their ambitious project to pipe water from the north into the Las Vegas Valley.

The town of Baker, in the Snake Valley on the Utah border, 65 miles southeast of Ely, and the host town to the Great Basin National Park, is one focal point for the voracious SNWA.

SNWA has formed the Integrated Water Planning Advisory Committee to help them consider how to go about obtaining more water for the overgrown and sprawling Las Vegas Valley. The committee has representation from Clark County, the targeted counties to the north, and environmental groups.

White Pine County Commissioner and Baker resident Gary Perea spoke up on behalf of White Pine County and rural Nevada at Monday's meeting in Las Vegas (televised to targeted rural communities, and broadcast over the Internet - www.snwa.com).

Commissioner Perea said that SNWA's plan to pipe White Pine County water to Las Vegas is a costly temporary solution that jeopardizes the state's natural resources and the future of rural Nevada. "There cannot be enough water under White Pine and Lincoln Counties to keep up with the growth of Las Vegas." "SNWA is gambling with my future, the future of my family and friends, and our ability to live in Snake and Spring Valleys," Perea said.

He noted that the rural Nevada water grab is just part of SNWA's total water portfolio. Perea suggested that the solution to SNWA's problem should be "all encompassing" and should be addressed regionally among the western states.

As a White Pine County commissioner and resident he pledged "to fight to keep water in White Pine County so we can be assured we have a future."

Perea wasn't the only one to voice concern. Anne Huskin, a Las Vegas resident, spoke about the damaging effects of water exportation on agriculture in rural Nevada.

"If they can't grow their crops and raise their cattle, there will be only so many steaks for the Bellagio," said Huskin, linking urban survival to rural economy.

Noted social critic and environmental writer Charles Bowden asserts in his book "Killing the Hidden Waters" that resource problems are almost always cultural problems and not the result of scarcity.

He cites two ecological principles that apply. "Systems expand to devour the maximum power available." A city (he suggests the Los Angeles area) "grows until it consumes everything it can find to sustain its growth and very existence."

The second is that American culture is largely open to consumption and closed to conservation. Our efforts to conserve water through low-flow toilets and shower heads have lowered water consumption per capita, but overall water consumption has still increased due to population growth.

When he first wrote the book in 1977, he thought that consumption and growth would be limited, not envisioning our culture's appetite for expensive gas guzzling cars or that rising water rates would not in any way limit population in resource-strained regions.

Older and wiser, he now suggests that giving new water resources to a city in the American West (Las Vegas perhaps?) is akin to sending a case of whiskey to an alcoholic. It postpones the problem for awhile but does not solve it.

The solution to the water needs of Las Vegas shouldn't be at the expense of rural communities, agriculture, or the economic foundation of rural Nevada.

When the Legislature convenes, it is likely that water law and water supply issues will be debated.

It is incumbent on all legislators to consider the destructive effect of the water exportation project on rural communities like Baker, and to consider the thoughtful comments of Commissioner Perea and Anne Huskin.

Perea is telling Southern Nevada Water Authority not to sacrifice rural Nevada in its quest for a temporary solution to an insatiable resource problem, and letting them know they have a fight on their hands.

Both legislators and the Southern Nevada Water Authority should heed the words of southern Nevadan Anne Huskin in evoking the state song: "The state song isn't Home Means Southern Nevada; it's Home Means Nevada."

Abby Johnson consults on rural community development, public involvement and nuclear waste issues in Carson City. She is a property owner in Baker. Her views are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of her clients.