March 13, 2008
Nevada Groundwater Projects Outlined

By Dave Maxwell, Staff Writer

Penny Woods, Project Manager for the Nevada Groundwater Projects of the Bureau of Land Management, spoke at the Legislative Committee on Public Lands meeting in Caliente on March 7. She presented an overview of the groundwater conveyance rights-of-way on BLM managed lands in Clark, Lincoln and White Pine Counties.

She noted there are three projects in the planning stages: 328 miles of pipeline and 349 miles of power lines for the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) project and two pipeline projects for the Lincoln County Water District in Tule Desert-Clover Mountain and Kane Springs.

The Tule-Clover plan she said involves 45 miles of pipeline with associated wells, pump stations, power lines – also telephone, natural gas and power line utility delivery. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the area is in the internal review process. Scoping meetings were held in 2006 and some 225 comments were received.

The Kane Springs Valley project involves 13 miles of pipeline with associated telephone, telemetry lines, power lines, wells and pumping stations. The 30-day comment period on the final Environmental Impact Statement ended March 10, 2008.

The SNWA project is by far the most ambitious involving 328 miles of buried pipeline (30 to 84 inches in diameter) along with associated facilities and pumping stations. 349 miles of power lines will need to be constructed to include 25KV, 69KV and 230KV lines. There are eight electric substations in the plans and four hydro-turbine energy recovery facilities, plus a 150 million gallon per day water treatment facility.

Mrs. Woods noted that in April 2008, SNWA is expected to deliver to the BLM the final conceptual model and flow system model products. In July 2008, the BLM expects to finalize a preliminary Draft EIS for review of cooperating agencies and the final Draft to be issued for public review in November 2008.

In her report she also noted that SNWA will have between 110 - 200 groundwater production wells, approximately 265 miles of collector pipeline, three additional pumping stations and three additional secondary electrical substations in Delamar, Dry Lake and Coyote Springs Valleys, approximately 265 miles of 25KV power lines, production, and conveyance facilities located in Lincoln County.

At present, the Department of Interior has protested the water applications in Delamar, Dry Lake and Cave Valleys. Meetings were held before the State Engineer in February 2008 on those applications and the State Engineer may issue a ruling later this spring.