Avoiding the Water-Stealer Image

Rural counties in Central and Southern Nevada are starting to fear that what happened to the Owens Valley 75 years ago might happen to them. The Los Vegas Valley Water District has filed 146 applications with the state engineer for unallocated water rights in parts of Clark County and in neighboring Nye, Lincoln and White Pine counties. Rights on stream flow and underground aquifers total about 865,000 acre-feet of water, a bit more than Los Angeles uses in a year.

But Las Vegas is trying to avoid the image of water-stealer that Los Angeles has borne over the years. Patricia Mulroy, general manager of the water district, said Las Vegas is not seeking exclusive rights and that the growing urban center is willing to share the water if the sparsely populated counties demonstrated a need for some of it. Las Vegas also would offer a package of economic incentives to compensate for the loss. “We don’t want to be perceived as going in and grabbing the water,” Mulroy said.

If the Las Vegas district succeeds in winning the rights, the district would spend an estimated $1.5 billion over the next 20 to 30 years developing a water collection and delivery system. The Las Vegas area has doubled in population during the 1980s, to about 700,000. Officials in the other counties indicated they would not allow Las Vegas to get their water without a contest. Nye County Manager Frank Hershman said, “We need the water desperately for our own development.”

The situation may present a chance for both the city and counties to avoid all the anger and trauma involved when Los Angeles bought up the Owens Valley for its water rights. A cooperative agreement might provide the water development rural areas need and cannot afford, while giving the Las Vegas area enough new supply to accommodate reasonable growth. With careful planning now, both regions might be able to develop the supplies they need. The tactic of fighting it out in court might result in losses for everyone.