Friday, April 12, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Nevada and Clark County officials are close to settling an 18-month court fight over homeland water rights with the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe.
Attorneys for the tribe and government officials have negotiated a stipulation that the state and county allow the tribe to pump up to 2,000 acre feet per year from the Las Vegas Valley Artesian Basin.
The tribe supports the agreement, which would give it almost 10 times more than currently allotted but is far less than the 40,000 acre feet it originally sought for its development and golf course expansion plans at its Snow Mountain Reservation 10 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The County Commission, which also sits as the Las Vegas Valley Water District's board of directors, is scheduled to vote on the agreement Tuesday. Some concern was expressed about how the allotment would affect downstream residential well users.
"I have a difficult time agreeing to give away more water out of this valley to build golf courses on an Indian reservation," Commissioner Paul Christensen said. "I don't know how I'm going to vote. I'll need to see the full text and see what the ramifications are."
The agreement would resolve a long-standing contention that the tribe, under federal law, is entitled to more than the 288 acre feet of well water it's currently allowed to pump out of the basin.
"We'd like to have this settlement," water district attorney Chuck Hauser said. "This amount of water would be enough for the two golf courses and hotel they have, but not enough for two more golf courses."
Attempts to reach tribal officials were unsuccessful.
The state would grant the tribe 1,500 acre feet as part of the ongoing adjudication of the artesian basin, and the district would grant the tribe 500 acre feet for a total 2,000 acre feet per year.
An acre foot is the amount used by a family of five to supply its needs in a year.
Pat Mulroy, general manager for the water district, said the settlement would prevent years of legal haggling without affecting the district's well water supply, since it has an active recharging program that injects Colorado River water back into the aquifer.
"In order to resolve the issue, we're going to have to give something," Mulroy said. "From the district's view of 500 acre feet ... it makes fiscal sense to resolve the issue."
The water district and state 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.
The tribal council said it had a right to drill the wells to supply water for four golf courses planned for the Snow Mountain reservation straddling U.S. 95.
The tribe originally believed it had the right to about 40,000 acre feet, but the water district and state said that since the reservation was not created until the 1980s, the tribe had no claim to homeland water rights.
The tribe entered into a temporary agreement that allowed it to use well water for its first golf course, and then got permission to use water for its second course while the matter was being heard in court.
The agreement would not give the tribe enough well water for two additional courses, which court papers said would require 2,800 to 3,600 acre feet.
Larry Brown, public services director for the water district, said the stipulation allows the tribe to move forward with its development plan without any further impacting groundwater withdrawals.
If the tribe wanted more water than the stipulation gives, it would have to hook up to the water district's system, Mulroy said.
"The main issue is the pumping issue," Mulroy said. "How long can you sustain that kind of pumpage without affecting the pumpage of other wells in that area."
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