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In The News — Water Grab News — 2020
In The News — Below are press stories about the ongoing drought in the west; press stories also cover the Southern Nevada Water Authority's "water grab" in Nevada and Utah; and other "mega" water projects that threaten the Great Basin.
July 30, 2020 — The odd-bedfellows coalition that held off Las Vegas’s bid to pump water out of the Great Basin — This week on In the Hive we continue our look at water in Utah and the West. For 31 years, a battle has been waging between water purveyors in the city of Las Vegas and residents along the Utah-Nevada border over aquifers beneath a number of Great Basin valleys. For three decades, in and out of the courts, the two sides fought over water rights, the science behind groundwater pumping, and the future of a remote high-desert region. Then, a little over a month ago, Las Vegas decided they didn’t need the water after all. We hear about the coalition that fought Vegas tooth-and-nail for decades, and about why a big pipeline project now appears to be dead in the water — kcpw.org
May 09, 2020 — Kyle Roerink and Steve Erickson: The tale of two pipelines for desert cities — Nevadans and Utahns won a major economic and environmental victory in mid-April that will help protect air quality along the Wasatch Front and the Great Basin’s fragile water supply –– including Great Salt Lake. After weeks of deliberation, the Southern Nevada Water Authority declined to appeal a resounding rejection of its Las Vegas pipeline project by a Nevada District Court – essentially ending the 14-year legal fight over water applications in Nevada’s Spring, Cave, Dry Lake and Delamar Valleys (Spring Valley’s water ultimately flows into Great Salt Lake). Since the project’s inception in 1989, opponents have known what the judge affirmed: The there is no surplus water for export — sltrib.com May 07, 2020 — Guest opinion: Residents of Utah’s West Desert continue their fight for water Although a recent court victory brought temporary solace to residents along the Utah-Nevada border, the fight to preserve water hasn’t stopped — By Annette Garland, Contributor (Published at: — deseret.com) April 30, 2020 — GUEST COLUMN: Las Vegas pipeline outcome offers new opportunity [By Chris Giunchigliani] — Rural and urban Nevada can both rest a little easier now that the massive pipeline project is not at the forefront of the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s plans. But there is still plenty of work to do to protect and expand the water supply in Las Vegas while doing the same in rural parts of the state. As the nation’s driest state, we must ensure that our decisions in one region don’t harm another. For many years, that has not been the case — Las Vegas Sun [Print PDF] April 16, 2020 — Water authority shelves controversial Las Vegas pipeline project — the Southern Nevada Water Authority is ending a decades-long effort to build a controversial 300-mile pipeline to pump rural groundwater from eastern Nevada to Las Vegas. On Thursday afternoon, the water authority confirmed in a statement that it would not appeal a recent court ruling that denied the agency a portion of its water rights. The decision means the water agency is shelving a development project that has long inflamed tensions between rural and urban Nevada, from the Legislature to the courts, and eclipsed nearly all other water issues in the state. The water authority first applied for the water rights in 1989, worried about water scarcity on the Colorado River and a growing population — thenevadaindependent.com  Read GBWN's Press Release 
More Press Coverage — reviewjournal.com
More Press Coverage — AP
April 16, 2020 — Kane County [Utah] pulls out of Lake Powell Pipeline project ahead of federal review — The Kane County Water Conservancy District has decided to pull out of the Lake Powell Pipeline project, leaving Washington County as the sole proposed user of the pipeline going forward. The decision comes as the federal government continues and environmental review of the project. The Bureau of Reclamation is developing an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the project as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. The NEPA process will determine if the project will go forward and what route it will take — thespectrum.com March 18, 2020 — Thomas Mitchell: Rural water grab may be dead in the water — A state judge’s implacable ruling this past week may have finally forestalled attempts by the Clark County water agency to tap groundwater from White Pine, Nye and Lincoln counties. Senior District Judge Robert Estes rejected proposals by the state water engineer to grant groundwater rights to the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), calling the plan illogical, contrary to state water law, as well as arbitrary and capricious — elkodaily.com March 10, 2020 — Commissioner calls on water authority 'to look in a different direction' as District Court judge reaffirms decision to deny water for Las Vegas pipeline — A District Court judge has once again scuttled the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s plans to obtain and pump rural groundwater about 300 miles from eastern Nevada, prompting one Clark County commissioner to call on the water authority “to look in a different direction.” Senior District Court Judge Robert Estes, presiding over the 7th Judicial District Court, ruled that the state’s water law does not support the project. The court order, filed on March 9, denied the water authority a portion of the rights for the project, which it said could result in “water mining” — thenevadaindependent.com [Related Information — GBWN Press Release ]
March 10, 2020 — UPDATED: District court judge deals blow to Las Vegas pipeline plan — Rupert Steele says he’s looking forward to his next trip to Nevada’s rural Spring Valley. That’s because Steele, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, will be bearing good news for his relatives. He was talking about a recent ruling by District Court Judge Robert Estes that dealt a severe blow to a proposal to pipe groundwater from the Spring Valley and other spots in eastern Nevada to Las Vegas — msn.com March 03, 2020 — Utah House reaffirms intent to develop Colorado River water — SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s booming population growth and rapid economic development means the need for more water, a higher level of conservation and wise development of water supplies, which are not infinite . . . Utah has not fully developed its full 23% allocation of the river, with much of that unused water flowing downstream to lower basin states — deseret.com February 27, 2020 — Coyote Springs gneral imporvemnet district to be dissolved [PDF Graphic] By Dave Maxwell February 22, 2020 — Rising temperatures are taking a worsening toll on the Colorado River, study finds — Scientists have documented how climate change is sapping the Colorado River, and new research shows the river is so sensitive to warming that it could lose about one-fourth of its flow by 2050 as temperatures continue to climb — azcentral.com January 08, 2020 — As 2020 kicks in, historic Colorado River Drought Plan will get its first test — This year, the first-ever Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan is set to launch, and water officials expect 2020 to bring unprecedented changes to the way the river is run, including cutbacks in water use by some states — watereducationcolorado.org 
February 07, 2020 — Nevada NewsMakers —the guest is Kyle Roerink, Executive Director, Great Basin Water Network 
January 03, 2020 — Is customer-based water conservation a drop in the bucket in Southern Nevada? — Reduced precipitation from climate change and disputes over Colorado River water rights loom over Nevada’s water supply, but the agency that oversees it says officials can manage the uncertainty with a boost from new conservation programs and legislative mandates — thenevadaindependent.com
Go To Water Grab News Archives — 2019
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