One year in, new Nye County water board still afloat

Following a full year of operation in its newest iteration, the Nye County Water District Governing Board is definitely doing more than just treading water, with Nye County Water District Manager Dann Weeks providing a report to the Nye County Commission outlining the progress that the water district has made in the past 12 months.

The previous makeup of the water board was gutted in November of 2021, when Nye County commissioners took unanimous action to recall all seven of its sitting members. This move was quickly followed by the resignation of then water district manager Oz Wichman and it looked as if the county might leave the board in its disbanded state. However, with the Nye County Water District act compelling the commission to appoint members to the water board, that entity was reformed five months later.

“It’s been roughly a year since the restart of the Nye County Water District Governing Board. In that time, we have held seven meetings. At this time, as we stand today, everything in my office is statutorily compliant,” Weeks told the commission during its Tuesday, May 2 meeting.

He said the individual members of the water board appear to be functioning well as a unit, remarking, “They are participating well in the meetings and they are engaged in my office on a regular basis. All of the board members thus far seem to be genuinely eager to fulfill their role to serve the people.”

Weeks did not shy away from the reality of the challenges that are to come. Perhaps one of the biggest obstacles to managing the water resources in Pahrump, specifically, is the uncertainty surrounding just how much water the local basin really has to use. With that in mind, he said the water district has earmarked funding to assist with an existing groundwater model for Basin #162 from the Desert Research Institute.

“This is a sophisticated software set that looks, with X-ray vision so to speak, under the ground and we will be calibrating that existing model to match it up with the data that Mr. (John) Klenke (Geoscientist with Nye County) has gathered in our water monitoring program. Hopefully that model will bring some clarity to some of the hard questions that we’ve been asking and not getting good answers to. Once the model is calibrated, we should have a better idea of what the wet water is, what’s really going on in the ground,” Weeks stated.

Nailing down precise recharge, yield and outflow rates for the local water supply is key, he emphasized, as it will help in determining what amount of population growth the valley can sustain.

He stressed that the board will be looking to expand its focus to other areas of Nye County soon but as of the moment, “…we are trying to be laser-focused down here in Pahrump.”

The water board is also delving into the over-appropriation of water rights in the valley, which has a state engineer estimated 20,000 acre-feet of perennial yield but roughly more than 60,000 acre-feet of water rights permits issued.

“The water board continues to seek ways to bring down the over-appropriation of paper water. This is the extra water rights that the state has issued in Basin #162. The current drawdown strategy we have in Pahrump is retiring water through the creation of domestic wells,” Weeks explained.

He was referring to Nevada State Engineer’s Order #11293A, which was issued in late 2017 at the request of the former water board. This order dictates that anyone who wishes to drill a new domestic well in Pahrump must first relinquish two acre-feet of water rights back to the state, unless water rights had already been relinquished for the property on which the well is to be constructed. This then allows the total number of water rights permits to drop, helping lessen the over-appropriation but as Weeks stated, the water board doesn’t think utilizing this as a sole strategy is fair.

“The board sees this as inequitable, in the fact that all of this drawdown strategy is based upon property owners who must develop a domestic well and cannot hook into a municipal system. The board feels that we need to work together as an organization to find ways to ensure that the drawdown of the paper water rights is burdened on everyone, including subdivisions, with actual retirements of water rights, and in commercial development, with actual retirements of water rights,” Weeks said.

As to its accomplishments in the last year, several were highlighted. The water district has been able to secure a $280,000 federal grant and implement a cloud seeding program in the Spring Mountains, water from which eventually makes its way into Basin #162, the sole-source aquifer for the Pahrump Valley. The board also decided on new legal counsel, contracting with Schroeder Law Offices, a firm that specializes in water law.

“This action will become more relevant in the years to come,” Weeks noted.

The water district has funded a Bureau of Reclamation grant to pursue a flood control program in Pahrump, as well, with Weeks remarking, “If it’s done right, it’s possible that we can turn this flood control program into a precipitation recovery program and potentially add to our yield.”

Funding for educational trips to Ash Meadows for high schoolers has also been allocated by the water district. “It’s really important that the children who grow up here understand where their water comes from and a lot of them unfortunately don’t,” Weeks stated, adding that many adults don’t even understand the nature of the valley’s groundwater basin. “Eventually, I would like to have every single student who comes out of Pahrump Valley High School to have gone out to Ash Meadows and been subjected to this curriculum.”

Even with all of these programs, with the reduction of legacy contracts and other changes now in place, Weeks said the water district is spending about 50% of what it had previously. The district has also managed lower its operational costs while simultaneously updating all of its operational equipment.

That doesn’t mean the water district is flush with financial resources, however, and Weeks said this was another challenge the board would be tackling as it moves forward.

“We do not, at our current taxation level, have the money to tackle any capital projects. Our current funding is essentially operations. We operate at less than $300,000 a year on a $5 per parcel taxation. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for projects,” Weeks stated.

In order to secure more funding for potential projects, the water district will continue to seek out and apply for grants through various agencies.

More information can be found online at www.NyeCountyWaterDistrict.net

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com