Cedar City is attempting to achieve what Vegas could not: tapping deep waters that are, ultimately, the remains of ancient Lake Bonneville and a mix of more recent freshwater resources. Much of these waters are non-renewable resources that are 10,000 years in age or older. They are waters that are connected throughout several valleys. Once they are gone, they won’t come back.
Specifically, the project wants to tap the headwaters of a connected aquifer network known as the Great Salt Lake Desert Inter-Basin Flow System. Over time, there would indeed be impacts to the eponymous lake. But, according to USGS modeling, the project imminently triggers aquifer drawdown far beyond the epicenter of groundwater pumping in Pine Valley. It is reasonable to expect immitigable impacts to desert springs and groundwater tables in the valleys surrounding Great Basin National Park. Even models paid for by the project proponent show a degradation to water supplies in the region.
How can federal regulators let that happen?
Short answer: They shouldn’t.
Unfortunately, we must meet the moment and demand accountability. We’ve been actively opposing this permitting effort since 2020 alongside rural governments, tribal nations, and NGOs. Our pleas are not hyperbole. Consider a recent response from county governments that appeared in Deseret News.
In late October, a multi-county, multi-state coalition of rural government officials from Nevada and Utah sent a letter to the Central Iron County Water District to put them on notice that the pipeline proposal is a dangerous salvo in a far-reaching water war (see the letter below).
Iris Thornton, an attorney representing Beaver County and GBWN, wrote to the water district on behalf of the multi-government coalition opposed to the project:
“… Iron County [must] reconsider spending millions of local, state, and federal dollars on a project that is unlikely to solve its water problems and would only push them several years down the road, harming its neighbors in the process and ensuring conflict. Asking your residents and taxpayers statewide to shoulder the cost of a project with a high likelihood of failure is more than unsound policy. It is a political mistake that could haunt Iron County for years to come. Instead, we encourage pursuit of a true, lasting solution.”
The USGS data are compelling because they highlight what many folks who live in the region already know: There is more water on paper than exists underground. Things are drier than they once were. The assumptions about water availability in the region, derived in the mid 20th Century, no longer apply. Officials in Iron County and Cedar City are blindly relying on outdated, cherry-picked information to support their efforts for Phase 1 of what is a three-phase water grab.
Notwithstanding the costs to the water supply and communities surrounding Great Basin National Park, the costs to residents of Cedar City will be astronomical. According to data from the project proponent, ratepayers can expect a 300-700 percent increase in their monthly water bills. That is an analysis based on data derived prior to COVID-era inflation. The costs are likely to be higher.
We will soon be announcing a public education effort in Cedar City to help raise awareness. And we will be offering avenues to help all of you participate in this process with us.
Good neighbors don’t want to harm those closest to them. We believe that most people in Cedar City don’t want to see harms in Utah’s West Desert and Eastern Nevada. But they need to let their misguided officials at the water district know that this isn’t the right choice for their pocketbooks.
