By Mark Waite
A domestic well owners’ information workshop is scheduled from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday at the Bob Ruud Community Center.
The free presentation will give information on the local water supply, including issues like the construction and depth of wells, the static and pumping levels, as well as flow rates.
That will be preceded by a presentation on the community source water protection plan for public drinking water systems in Nye County at 5:15 p.m. Monday. The draft plan will be presented, maps showing the inventory of contaminant sources and an overview how the plan will be implemented in the future.
Doors open at 4:45 p.m. Monday.
Nevada State Engineer Jason King will give a presentation on Pahrump Valley water resource management, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Bob Ruud Community Center, which is also free to the public.
A Water Rights in Nevada class is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Bob Ruud Community Center. That will be followed by an Advanced Water Rights in Nevada class from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Both of these classes require a $200 charge for members of the Nevada Water Resources Association or $250 for non-members.
The basic water rights course will provide detailed explanations of state law, information about water rights issues as they relate to the purchasing and selling of real estate, a review of regulations established for water resource administration and court cases that initiated water law. The advanced class will expand on the introductory course.
Jay Dixon, president of the NWRA, said he’s attempting to spend outreach activities in the rural communities.
“Domestic well owners in a sense are on their own. They’re responsible for their own water supply,” Dixon said. “We found a lot of people know surprisingly little about their wells and the aquifers that are tapped by their wells. We just simply want to give them information, particularly in Pahrump. Pahrump is one of the largest concentration of domestic wells in the state. Pahrump’s development has depended in large part on the ability to put in domestic wells. That could possibly continue into the future.”
The Tuesday presentation is also important, Dixon said, which will be an update to presentations by the state engineer’s office a few years ago. It will include a discussion on Assembly Bill 419 which allows the state engineer to designate critical management areas, though author Assemblyman Pete Goicoechea, R-Eureka, felt it will give Nye County more input into water decisions.
“Pahrump gets a lot of attention from the state engineer’s office because there’s such a high concentration of domestic wells and the need to protect water resources in that area,” Dixon said.
Tina Triplett, executive director of the NWRA, said 20 people have already signed up for the Water Rights in Nevada course, 15 have signed up for the advanced course.
Registration for the classes is still available on the NWRA website at <a href=www.nvwra.org.
>www.nvwra.org
The NWRA mission is to expand awareness of Nevada’s water issues through education and community involvement.
“As president of NWRA, one of the things I’m pursuing with NWRA is spending a little more time with outreach activities in the rural communities,” Dixon said.
