Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Water board OKs deal for Paiutes’ pumping

Clark County approved a settlement on a split vote in the 18-month court fight over water rights claimed by the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe.

The County Commission, voting Tuesday as the board of the Las Vegas Valley Water District, agreed to a negotiated settlement with the state and the Paiutes to allow the tribe to pump up to 2,000 acre feet a year from the Las Vegas Valley artesian basin.

The tribe supports the agreement that needs U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben's approval.

Under the settlement, the tribe gets almost 10 times more water than currently allotted, but far less than its original request of 40,000 acre feet. An acre foot of water serves a family of five for a year.

Commissioner Paul Christensen objected to the settlement, saying it would set a dangerous precedent for future water use in the desert valley.

"What happens when the tribe attacks the Colorado River rights on aboriginal grounds?" he asked. "This agreement won't mean anything."

Tribes across the West have filed for water rights based on being the first inhabitants of an area.

Settlement saves millions

Pat Mulroy, general manager for the water district, said the settlement saves millions of customer dollars and years of legal fighting in federal court. In case after case, she said, tribes have been winning court battles for Western water.

"We thought that the settlement made good business sense," Mulroy said.

Although the tribe does not have to pay for the settlement's 2,000 acre feet of water -- drawing 1,500 from the artesian basin with state approval and another 500 from the water district -- further development at the Snow Mountain Reservation, 10 miles northwest of Las Vegas, will require the Paiutes to purchase water, she said.

"Want to bet?" asked Christensen, who said water district customers paid for pumping Colorado River water to recharge the aquifer serving the tribe. And, the state's share of the tribal waters comes from water district recharge as well, he added.

To pump and store the water in the basin costs the water district $200 an acre foot. Apparently, the recharging has saved sharp drops in the water basin's level, according to a water district study. Withdrawing 2,000 acre feet won't have a serious impact on the basin, Mulroy said.

The agreement also protects further withdrawals from the artesian basin, Mulroy said.

Christensen and Jay Bingham voted against the deal, splitting the vote 3-2 with members Erin Kenny and Lorraine Hunt absent. That stopped the settlement, since the water district board has to have a two-thirds majority vote.

Board member Yvonne Atkinson Gates then moved to reconsider the vote. Kenny arrived and the final 4-2 vote sealed the settlement. Now it goes to federal court.

The water district and Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources filed suit in November 1994 to stop the Paiute Tribal Council from what they claimed was illegal drilling of wells.

Tribe cites rights

The tribal council said it had a right to drill wells for supplying four golf courses with water at the Snow Mountain Reservation that straddles U.S. 95.

Originally, the tribe claimed rights to 40,000 acre feet, but the water district and state countered that the reservation was not created until the 1980s and the tribe had no claim to homeland water rights.

The tribe entered into a temporary agreement, approved by McKibben, that allowed it to use well water for the first golf course, Nu-Wav Kaiv. Then it got permission to water a second course while the court continued hearings.

The agreement does not give the tribe enough water for two more golf courses. Court papers said it would require another 2,800 to 3,600 acre feet for additional courses.

The Paiutes hope to build four golf courses and a clubhouse on the 4,000-acre Reservation. There are further plans to build a 300-room hotel-casino, a 300-acre theme park and a $3 million smoke shop, all using water bought from the regional Southern Nevada Water Authority.

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