Clark, Lincoln and White Pine Counties
Groundwater Development Project

The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) plans to convey approximately 170,000 acre-feet per year of groundwater from five hydrographic basins in eastern Nevada. Because most of the project would be built across federal lands, in August 2004, SNWA applied to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for right-of-way to construct and operate groundwater production, conveyance, and treatment facilities, and power conveyance facilities. The BLM is currently conducting environmental analysis for this right-of-way.

The water right permitting process is separate from the right-of-way process and SNWA has groundwater rights and applications in hydrographic basins in Clark, Lincoln and White Pine counties.

The Nevada Office of the State Engineer is responsible for deciding whether to approve SNWA's water rights applications.

The water conveyed by this project will be used to serve SNWA purveyor members in the Las Vegas Valley and customers of the Lincoln County Water District in Coyote Spring Valley.

SNWA will conduct biological and hydrological monitoring as part of the project. It is currently anticipated that the project would not begin construction before 2010, and would not be completed until approximately 2019.

SNWA submits plan of development

SNWA has submitted a draft Conceptual Plan of Development (PDF) for the project to the BLM (December 2008).  This document describes the water rights that will be developed for the project, along with the proposed facilities, construction methods, and environmental protection measures.  It updates earlier versions of the document to address recent decisions by the Nevada State Engineer and infrastructure adjustments.

State Engineer approves Spring Valley Applications

In April 2007, the Nevada State Engineer approved a major portion of the groundwater rights applications submitted by the SNWA for the Spring Valley in White Pine County, enabling the development of 60,000 acre-feet annually of groundwater from the basin.

Under terms of the decision, SNWA can pump 40,000 acre-feet annually from the basin for 10 years. At that point, SNWA will be allowed an additional 20,000 acre-feet annually from the basin based on the results of monitoring and impact analysis.

The State Engineer's approval also requires the protection of existing groundwater rights in the basin, the ability for future groundwater growth and development in Spring Valley and a comprehensive monitoring, management and environmental mitigation plan.

State Engineer approves applications for Delamar, Dry Lake and Cave valleys

In July 2008, the Nevada State Engineer released a ruling granting the SNWA 18,755 acre-feet of groundwater annually from Delamar, Dry Lake and Cave valleys.

The applications were granted subject to the development of a monitoring and mitigation plan to be approved by the State Engineer, additional data collection and regular assessment of groundwater pumping.

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