In a study published this month in BioScience, a peer-reviewed science journal published by the American Institute of Biological Sciences, James E. Deacon says the Southern Nevada Water Authority's plans to take the water for golf course and home development in the Las Vegas area would hurt 20 federally protected species - including three endangered Utah fish - and risk harm to 137 others.
Worse, "the community being built will depend on an unsustainable water source," Deacon said Friday. "And that's stupid."
The report, "Fueling Population Growth in Las Vegas: How Large-scale Groundwater Withdrawal could Burn Regional Biodiversity," coincides with an accusation from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that Utah is trying to steal Nevada's water.
The BioScience article also closely follows a demand from the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation for a study of how a proposed water pipeline would affect the sovereign nation in Snake Valley and Utah lawmakers' request for a new $6 million study of the aquifer that underlies eastern Nevada and Utah's west desert.
At the center of the report is a simple fact: Water runs downhill.
If Nevada State Engineer Tracy Taylor were to honor all current water allocations, the drawdown would be more than double the amount of water available, said Deacon, distinguished professor emeritus in the University of Nevada Las Vegas department of environmental studies. And that means that more water will flow toward a "big hole" where the water table could drop as much as 1,600 feet, which in turn would kill plants and animals in the desert above.
"Basically, there would be detectable drop in the groundwater table from Death Valley to Sevier Lake," he said.
In April, Taylor authorized the Southern Nevada Water Authority to take up to 40,000 acre-feet of water annually from the aquifer that lies underneath Spring Valley, west of Great Basin National Park. The water authority also wants to take groundwater out of Snake Valley, on the Utah-Nevada border. An acre-foot is considered enough water for a family of four for a year.
The water would run through a 285-mile pipeline to southern Nevada. Taylor's decision preceded the June 1 release of the draft U.S. Geological Survey Basin and Range Carbonate Aquifer System Study, or BARCASS.
The water authority had requested 91,000 acre-feet annually. Taylor estimated that 80,000 acre-feet per year could be taken without affecting the water table.
But that conclusion relies on SNWA's plan to recharge the aquifer by pumping water uphill, Deacon said. It also depends on state water law that fundamentally prevents conservation of springs that keep desert animals and plants alive.
"The Southern Nevada Water Authority project, plus all the other water rights in the area, if everything is granted, that will amount to about 250 percent of all that is available," Deacon said.
"We were being told by [water authority general manager] Pat Mulroy we were going to develop this without environmental damage," said Deacon, who has for four decades researched and taught conservation biology of desert fish at UNLV.
"I quit believing in the Tooth Fairy when I was a little kid," he said. "Those numbers don't add up."
If the water table drops, farmers and ranchers already on the edge in Snake Valley and Nevada's Spring Valley would have to spend more to sustain themselves.
"They could argue that's illegal. State fish and game could charge that wildlife habitat is imperiled," Deacon said. "It almost can't but help reach a conflict situation."
Judging from the recent level of discourse between Nevada and Utah officials, the conflict has arrived.
On Aug. 22, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told the Ely Times that Utah lawmakers' push for a second BARCASS study was motivated by a desire to grab Nevada's water.
Earlier this summer, Mulroy lashed out after reading that Utah Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Provo, wanted a second BARCASS study before SNWA proceeded with its plans that could turn the region into what Dayton called "a big dust bowl."
Mulroy accused Utah officials of tampering with Nevada's ''sovereign right'' to develop groundwater resources within its boundaries. ''This isn't about protecting farmers or the environment,'' Mulroy told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The two states must negotiate a water-sharing agreement before the water authority can proceed. Meanwhile, the Utah Geological Survey is drilling test wells in Snake Valley to establish a water table baseline, said UGS director Rick Allis.
Ranchers in Utah's Snake Valley oppose the drawdown because there wouldn't be enough water to recharge the underground basin. Conservation groups are against the plan because of the environmental damage that would follow.
Residents of Nevada's White Pine County object to being treated like their region is a sacrifice zone.
"Some people have said we won't see the effects for years," said Gary Perea, a former county commissioner who now works with the county water advisory board. "But if they are able to do this project, some of the results will be immediate. There are springs going dry right now."
The law says:
"The Secretary [of the Interior], acting through the United States Geological Survey, the Desert Research Institute, and a designee from the State of Utah shall conduct a study to investigate ground water quantity, quality, and flow characteristics in the deep carbonate and alluvial aquifers of White Pine County, Nevada, and any groundwater basins that are located in White Pine County, Nevada, or Lincoln County, Nevada, and adjacent areas in Utah."
- Lincoln County (Nev.) Land Act, Dec. 2004, authorizing the Basin and Range Carbonate Aquifer System Study (BARCASS) . The USGS released the draft report June 1.
Utahns say:
"We've known there is a connection. And it's more complicated by the fact that we may not see the real effects for decades. That's why we need something in the agreement that allows us to, after 20 years, go back and take another look at it."
- Mike Styler, director, Utah Department of Natural Resources, The Salt Lake Tribune, March 27
"Alienation of the Goshute Indian Reservation from the BARCASS study is a serious mistake .... The tribe knows that the water aquifer is part of the regional system and not a separate water aquifer. ... The Goshute Business Council opposes the BARCASS study in its entirety because it is incomplete and inaccurate and sound quality decisions cannot be made on such a study."
- Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, Opposition to the BARCASS study, Resolution no: 07-G-69. July 10
"The [first] BARCASS does not address the impacts of groundwater withdrawals. Without additional analysis and modeling prior to conditional groundwater export, the impacts and any potential mitigation can not be quantified or predicted adequately. We, on behalf of the Utah State Legislature's Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Interim Committee, request that you support an appropriation to the U.S. Geological Survey for a BARCASS II study to model, analyze, and predict the impacts groundwater withdrawals will have on the study area."
- Utah Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Interim Committee letter to the Utah congressional delegation, requesting $6 million for a second study of the proposed Nevada water pipeline, July 30
"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." . . . [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. . . . We have to use all caution. We cannot be too careful about agreeing to . . . bargain away part of our water."
- Sen. Margaret Dayton, R- Provo, July 31 interview, The Salt Lake Tribune
''Utah is not interested in hurting Nevada or taking water that belongs to Nevada, but we are very interested in protecting our water, especially in the west desert where water is king. We are fairly unsympathetic to Nevada's position.''
- Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, interview with Stephens Media, owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Aug. 3
Nevadans Say:
''This isn't about protecting farmers or the environment. The truth is they [Utah officials] need water to develop the I-15 corridor.''
- Southern Nevada Water Authority general manager Pat Mulroy, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Aug. 2
''It would be a waste of money. There has already been a study.''
- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Las Vegas Review-Journal, Aug. 2
"The second study is being pushed by the State of Utah because they want the water."
- Sen. Harry Reid, Ely Times, Aug. 29
"It appears to me that the negotiating may not be going very well and Nevada may be trying to paint Utah as not negotiating in good faith."
- Gary Perea, 30-year resident of Baker, Nev., former White Pine County Commissioner, now on White Pine County Water Advisory Board, Sept. 6
"The community being built will depend on an unsustainable water source. And that's stupid."
- James E. Deacon, distinguished professor emeritus in the University of Nevada Las Vegas department of environmental studies, in interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, Sept. 7
