State Supreme Court reverses Big Canyon water ruling

The Nevada Supreme Court has overturned a ruling that had ordered the Truckee Meadows Water Authority to provide services to the Big Canyon Ranch development project.

Big Canyon offered water rights in exchange for a guarantee of service from the authority - a standard practice - but was refused because authority lawyers said there were questions whether Big Canyon had clear title to those water rights. They said the prior owner of the water had sold rights to some of that water.

District Judge Jim Hardesty, now a member of the high court, ruled the state engineer's approval of two applications changing diversion of those water rights effectively cured any possible defects to ownership of those water rights. He directed the authority to provide water service for the Big Canyon project.

The high court, with Hardesty not participating, reversed that decision, saying state law prohibits the state engineer from resolving conflicting water title claims and that his acceptance of a change in diversion doesn't settle possible challenges to ownership of the water rights.

The order points out that once the water authority is obligated to provide service to the project, it can't terminate that service even if it turns out the project doesn't have water rights.

"As a result, TMWA is not required to accept any portion of a water resource offered by an applicant not possessing clear title to the right," the ruling concludes.

• Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.