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The notion of a new Dust Bowl, of winds blowing across the Nevada-Utah border that could send clouds of destabilized soil to the Wasatch Front, has prompted Utah lawmakers to ask Congress to spend more than $6 million for a closer examination of a proposed Nevada water pipeline.

Members of the legislative Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Interim Committee on Monday sent a letter to the Utah congressional delegation seeking support for a new study of the aquifer that lies under Snake Valley in western Utah.

The letter says that without a greater understanding of the effects of a Southern Nevada Water Authority proposal to ship groundwater from northern Nevada to Las Vegas, Utah officials can't know the extent of the project's potential impact on Utah.

But it could be dire, committee member Sen. Margaret Dayton said Tuesday.

"The impact of a decision out there is going to affect far more than people on the border. It's going to affect the Wasatch Front," the Orem Republican said. "If that area dries up into a big dust bowl . . . there's going to be a lot of dust blowing into the state over the highly populated areas."

In April, Nevada State Engineer Tracy Taylor authorized the Southern Nevada Water Authority to take up to 40,000 acre-feet of water annually from the aquifer west of Great Basin National Park, which lies between Interstate 80 and U.S. 50. An acre-foot is enough for a family of four for a year. The water would run through a 285-mile pipeline network to feed population growth in southern Nevada.

Taylor's decision, which would allow an annual drawdown of 40,000 acre-feet each year for 10 years, preceded the June 1 release of the U.S. Geological Survey Basin and Range Carbonate Aquifer System Study (BARCASS).

Taylor determined that if there are minimal or no impacts from the withdrawal, a total of 60,000 acre-feet could be taken each year - but that 80,000 acre-feet could be taken each year without significantly depleting the water table. The Southern Nevada Water Authority's application requested 91,000 acre-feet annually.

Utah and Nevada are still negotiating a water-sharing agreement that must be finalized before the water authority can proceed with its pipeline project.

Ranchers in Utah's Snake Valley oppose the drawdown, as do several environmental groups. They argue that the groundwater recharge would be inadequate to fill the Snake Valley aquifer and could tip a delicate balance, even causing the migration of briny water from the Great Salt Lake into the freshwater aquifer.

Estimates that the aquifer under Nevada's Spring Valley and Snake Valley could drop 50-200 feet are reasonable, said Boyd Clayton of the Utah State Engineer's office.

"Clearly there would be significant effects," he said. What's needed is a new study - BARCASS II - that would allow computer modeling of the local effects on the water drawdown.

A 50-foot drop in the water table would kill the vegetation that holds the desert soil in place, said Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada spokesman Launce Rake. If that happens, he said, terrible dust storms could result much as they did in California's Owens Valley, pumped dry to slake Los Angeles's thirst. Owens Valley winter dust storms cause the nation's worst particulate air pollution.

BARCASS cost about $6 million, paid for through the sale of federal land. Steve Erickson of the Salt Lake City-based Citizen Education Project told the interim committee earlier this month that BARCASS II would cost more than $6 million.

A coalition of state and national conservation groups and the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation on Monday said BARCASS is "flawed" and called for further scientific analyses of the Great Basin water system.