This article appeared in the Dessert Valley Times.
The hearing was conducted by State Engineer Jason King who will rule on SNWA’s application to tap into 126,000 acre-feet of Groundwater in the Spring, Cave, Delamar and Dry Lake valleys.
Critics of the plan, including the people who live in the region from where the water would be drawn, cite potential environmental damage, and point to the problems created when Los Angeles began taking water from Owens Valley in California, draining Owens Lake.
Supporters of the plan, including those from the construction and tourism industry, say the water is needed to save the economy of Las Vegas, and predict disaster if Las Vegas suffers a water shortage.
There’s a lesson here: don’t build more than your water supply can support.
The Virgin Valley appears to have a water supply that will allow for a growing population, but estimates vary on how much growth that supply will support.
The Virgin Valley Water District is considering embarking on a phased study to determine how much water it really has. While it’s almost impossible to determine exactly how much water is available, technology should yield fairly accurate estimates. The City of Mesquite has a dog in this fight — its growth will eventually be determined by how much water is available.
Getting the water from a distant source is not the answer — sticking your straw in someone else’s glass doesn’t go down well these days. A case in point happened a few years ago when someone tried to sell Arizona water to the VVWD, which got the people in the Arizona Strip stirred up.
People get in trouble when they live beyond their means, as do countries. Just as we should live within a fiscal budget, so should we live within a water budget, planning and building according to resources available. See this article!
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