City council hears citizen’s report on water resources

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The Mesquite City Council heard a rather dire report on the future of water resources for the region around Mesquite during a meeting held on Tuesday, August 10. The report was presented by Mesquite resident Mike McGreer who was representing a new non-profit organization called the Mesquite Water Alliance.

McGreer’s report painted a troubling picture. It involved a scenario that the vast underground water source currently supplying the City’s water is grossly over-allocated and should be carefully studied and quantified before more growth commitments are made by the city.

But during a public comment period following the report, Virgin Valley Water District (VVWD) General Manager Kevin Brown responded that the district is operating well within the water budget assigned to it by the Nevada State Engineer, who is tasked with determining and regulating water resources. Brown insisted that there is still plenty of water resources available in the aquifer for healthy growth to occur in the community for the foreseeable future.

At the center of McGreer’s report was the assertion that the underground hydrographic basin providing water to Mesquite is being pumped at an unsustainable rate.

McGreer cited a U.S. Geological Survey study done in 1968 which calculated the perennial yield of the basin, or the maximum amount of water which can be pumped from it without depleting the groundwater source. At that time, the perennial yield was calculated at around 3,600 acre feet of water per year, McGreer said.

An acre foot of water is roughly the amount needed to serve the water needs of three Mesquite households for one year.

That perennial yield number is still being recognized by the Nevada State Engineer as applicable to the current basin. McGreer said.

“It is the general policy of the state engineer to limit groundwater withdrawals from a basin to that average annual recharge number,” McGreer added.

But the estimated amount of permits and certificates issued on water in the basin is much higher than the perennial yield, McGreer claimed. Water rights currently issued for the basin are now at more than 12,000 acre feet per year, he said.

McGreer claimed that the VVWD has not taken this into account when creating its master planning documents for the community.

“This basin is over-allocated by 8,947 acre feet,” McGreer said. “So in their plans, the district has ignored that the basin has been closed to any further appropriations, that it is over-allocated, that demand projections are far above the perennial yield and that peak demand is well over the permits and certifications issued by the State Engineer.”

To conclude the presentation, McGreer made the recommendation that a detailed study be performed by the State Engineer to determine exactly what resources are available to retain sustainability in the system. Then an updated water budget should be issued to the community so that adjustments could be made in growth policies if necessary. Finally, McGreer recommended that all requests for growth in the community be tabled until these things are completed.

“I see on your agenda tonight several resolutions which will bring development,” McGreer said. “I really think that you need to table those items until you have a water plan that identifies what the water budget is, how much water you actually have available, and then you just work to balance those things out.”

During council discussion, councilman Brian Wursten pointed out that it was the Nevada State Engineer who had provided the water budget currently in use by the VVWD.

“I don’t know if I am ready to shut down all development in the community at this point,” Wursten said. “Because I do still trust that the professionals at the state and at the water district are doing what they should be doing with respect to the water resource.”

“I’m not asking you to stop growth,” McGreer said. “I’m asking to get the darn study done and determine how much water is actually in the perennial yield. Then set a water budget and live by it.”

Councilwoman Sandra Ramaker said that this is a subject which the public needs to be better informed about. “This is something that we should all be concerned with,” she said. “We are in a drought; just look at it out there. And we should be really concerned about what we have and what we don’t have in terms of water. I think these studies are important and they need to be done.”

Ramaker added that VVWD General Manager Kevin Brown had been invited to address the council at its next meeting on Aug. 24. In addition, she had contacted the State Engineer to request that a representative come and give a report to the council in a later meeting.

“So hopefully we can get some answers and know more what we are doing,” she said.

During public comment, Kevin Brown did stand to give a brief response to the report. Brown said that he had not been given the chance to review McGreer’s report beforehand to prepare a full response. But he hoped to be able to do so.

Brown emphasized that it was the State Engineer who had set the water budget of 12,271 acre feet per year in the basin. The district is currently pumping about 7,000 acre feet of that per year, he added.

In addition Brown stated that the district has long maintained about 20 different monitoring wells throughout the basin, as well as precipitation stations in the surrounding mountains where much of the recharge to the basin comes from.

“We have been closely monitoring the water levels in the basin and they haven’t changed in several decades,” Brown said.

“We do not have a water supply problem whatsoever,” Brown added. “This is kind of a ‘chicken little’ type of thing we are talking about here. I do not recommend that you shut down growth. We have got plenty of water. I don’t know how many times I’ve got to say it. We have plenty of water. We have plenty of water. We have plenty of water.”

Brown said that the detailed VVWD master plan is based the 12,271 acre feet per year of proven water rights in the basin. Based on the current rate of growth, there is enough in that water budget to last well into the 2030s, Brown said.

“Then at that point, we have additional sources such as water rights on springs in the mountains, and also the Virgin River water rights that we own, which we can eventually draw upon if needed,” Brown said.

Brown concluded by stating that any comprehensive study of the basin would be the responsibility of the State Engineer to complete. That would not be a VVWD function, he said.

“As Mike said, we do not set what our water budget is, that is the State Engineer,” Brown said. “And that budget is set at 12,271 acre feet of groundwater per year.”