Sounds Like Old Times

As if California does not have enough water fights on its hands, here comes Nevada seeking to tap underground sources that could affect wells on neighboring California ranches. The city of Reno, in search of a new supply, is looking at groundwater sources north of Reno and stretching virtually to the Oregon border.

Experts in the region are comparing Reno’s search to that of Los Angeles back in the early 1900s. A limited water supply threatened to curb Los Angeles’ booming growth until the city went 200 miles north and bought up water rights in the Owens Valley. The rest is a history marked by periodic dynamite blasts that still shadows the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

The Reno area’s population is nearing 250,000 and expected to grow to 300,000 by 1992, when the western Nevada urban center is expected to reach the limit of its current supply, primarily from the Truckee River. Some of the arguments heard north of Reno are similar to those still heard in the Owens Valley about Los Angeles. The ranchers who criticize the city say Reno should not be allowed to take any water until it adopts some sort of growth-control program and conserves water. Water is not currently metered in Reno.

One Reno target is a large aquifer underlying the Honey Lake Basin that straddles the California Nevada border 40 to 50 miles north of Reno. Wells would be drilled in Nevada, but ranchers in California’s Lassen and Modoc counties fear the pumping would jeopardize water supplies on their property, which shares the same aquifer. Ironically, Nevada has a strong underground-water law that prohibits excessive pumping while California has none.

Fred Mallery, a Lassen County cattlemen told the San Francisco Examiner recently: “We could be the next Owens Valley if we don’t stand up and do something for ourselves.” Just what is unclear, but one assumes the answer is not rifles across the border. Others do not see it as a California-Nevada fight because many ranchers own property on both sides of the state line. They do not, however, want “their” water piped away to the city.

There is a truce of sorts for now, since Nevada has agreed to a moratorium on tapping the groundwater while a three-year study of Honey Lake Basin supplies is conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, financed in part by the California Department of Water Resources. In the meantime, the two states should work toward an interstate agreement that allocates the water in a way that recognizes Nevada’s right to drill on its side of the line, but also protects California’s legitimate interests.