By:  Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President

For a number of reasons, not the least of which is that a good share of all available water has been appropriated for agricultural use, through the first-in-time rule of Nevada water law, those who would like to get water for the uses they believe are important, need to acquire the water from agricultural producers.  Some have approached this acquisition by purchase.  Some have turned to powerful legislators, including one particular legislator who happens to now be the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate.

The latter approach has included the use of this legislator’s ability to “persuade” federal agencies to do the bidding he sought to accomplish.  In the case of the Bureau of Reclamation, who has been the responsible agency in oversight of the Newlands Irrigation Project, the technique applied has been to basically step on the hose supplying the project with the water they should have gotten.  If the water isn’t there to use – you can only use what you have available…  In an organized and deliberate fashion every effort has been made by the agency to keep water from getting into the project’s reservoir source (Lahontan).  In conjunction with this activity an ongoing process has been in place to purchase water rights from “willing sellers”…who might be more “willing” based on the constant assault of the agency to make life a little more challenging.

Willing sellers is also the approach being taken in the Walker River System.  The Walker River Irrigation Project was not constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation and until Senator Reid was able to insert the “Desert Terminal Lake” program into the 2002 Farm Bill, the Bureau of Reclamation didn’t have any toe-hold to carry out their program of destroying an irrigation district.

In the 2002 Farm Bill, Senator Reid was successful in establishing a $200,000 million funding allocation for the Desert Terminal Lake program, to be operated by the Bureau of Reclamation.  The language of the legislation prohibited the ability for the money to be used to acquire land or water.

Enter Nevada’s Land Grant College and the Nevada University System…  Senator Reid re-appropriated $70 million of the $200,000 million for Desert Terminal Lakes and provided it to the Nevada University System to establish a “world-class” research effort, authorized to purchase land and water to establish this project.  Once upon a time in Nevada, money laundering was a process used by unauthorized organizations – now it is part of the mission of the Nevada University System.

Of the $70 million appropriation, about $56 million was budgeted for the acquisition of land and water from “willing sellers”.  The remaining $14 million went into the “world-class” research effort, somewhere translated into a “virtual” research facility (as to keep the maintenance costs down and responsibilities of property at a minimum).

The purpose of the water acquired, when they find the “willing sellers” they are seeking – sending it down to Walker Lake, a desert terminal lake where the water flows in and then stays until it evaporates.

Another extremely large effort to take water to some place other than having it available for agricultural use is the project being carried out by the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

After a change in state water law, allowing a municipal water right owner to not have to put their water rights to beneficial use in the time frame other water right owners are required (a legislative move that should rightly be attributed to the water purveyor for the Reno area) the Southern Nevada Water Authority, serving the Las Vegas area, applied for basically all of the un-appropriated water rights in White Pine, Lincoln and Nye Counties.  For nearly 20 years, this effort to relocate all available water in these Northern rural basins has held center stage in the mindset of water enthusiast.  The final episode of this unfolding drama will play out shortly when the Nevada Water Engineer holds the last round of appropriations hearings on the Snake Valley request.

While the Southern Nevada Water Authority project has not technically diverted any agricultural water to some other use there are long-term concerns that there will no stopping the flow of water once the giant straw has been installed to take the water they have been awarded, through the appropriations process.

State water law clearly states that the more junior of the water rights (in this case the water awarded to the Southern Nevada Water Authority) cannot impinge on the water rights of the more senior water right owners (established rights, owned in many cases by agricultural producers).  Trusting this application of water law is part of the worry. 

It also has been a major reason for the quasi-governmental agency getting into the ranching business, purchasing a number of ranches in the area where they hope to extract large amounts of water.  Buying the ranches will help keep the ranch an owner from complaining when their water might be impacted by the huge withdraws – you’re not going to complain about yourself...

Standing up for Nevada agricultural water rights has been primarily based on standing up in support of state water law and the well-defined process of the authority of the State Water Engineer in applying that water law. 

Sometimes support for the law gets complicated.  Especially when it’s the use of that law which provides for the ability of water – that agricultural producers need – to be used for other purposes.