SALT LAKE CITY— With a proposed water sharing agreement in perpetual limbo between Nevada and Utah, Gov. Gary Herbert on Wednesday reiterated that any eventual plan must protect Utah's share of the Snake Valley aquifer, safeguard existing water rights for Utah users and provide environmental protections.
"From our perspective we will wait and watch and see what happens with Nevada," Herbert said.
"If there is a pipeline, I think we all agree having nothing in place is a fool's hope to somehow think that is better."
Herbert attended a briefing of the Snake Valley Aquifer Advisory Council to hear what's been done so far in terms of groundwater monitoring, surveys of potentially endangered aquatic species and efforts to at some point monitor the area for dust events that could be blown into the Wasatch Front.
Much of the data being collected could bolster Utah's armament in any future negotiations with Nevada over drawing water from Snake Valley, which straddles the borders of both states.
The effort by Nevada to draw from aquifers in the valleys of its eastern basin region are in support of a planned 285-mile pipeline that would carry water to Las Vegas households.
With its share of the Colorado River paltry compared to its neighboring states — compounded by years of drought — the Southern Nevada Water Authority is looking elsewhere for water supplies.
The bulk of precipitation that falls in the Snake Valley region is in the Nevada mountains, and it soaks into aquifers and travels to Utah pastures and rangeland that support cattle and farming operations.
Water officials in Nevada don't need Utah's permission to tap Nevada's side of the water supplies, which could draw down the aquifer that feeds a network of wells for Utahans.
With that concern in mind, Utah and Nevada state officials hammered out a water-sharing agreement that put in place environmental protections, divided up "existing" water and carved out future allocations if the water is still there. It also called for the establishment of a $3 million mitigation fund by the water authority should residents in the region be adversely impacted.
The proposed agreement led to outcry among critics who accused Utah officials of "giving away" water and bowing to pressure from the water authority.
Mike Styler, executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, has stood by the plan because he said it gives the state a voice at the pipeline table where otherwise there would be none.
"At least an agreement forces them to adhere to some standards," Styler said Wednesday. "Without that, we go to their hearings" on water right applications.
Although the agreement was poised to be signed earlier this year, a ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court forcing the state engineer to revisit the applications put the plan on hold.
Styler said that delay works to Utah's advantage as 27 sites — some with multiple wells — provide hydrologists with critical information such as how quickly the groundwater is replenished, the age of the groundwater and what impacts even existing use has on water levels.
Additional information is being compiled on species that depend on the springs in the Snake Valley for survival, such as the least chub and three species of springsnails.
e-mail: amyjoi@desnews.com