Water board rejects study of utility expansion

With it common knowledge that Pahrump’s water resources are strained, the Nye County Water District has been looking into a variety of solutions to the problem but it is now clear that expansion of local water utility infrastructure will not be one of them.

During its Tuesday, June 13 meeting, the Nye County Water District Governing Board addressed an agenda item sponsored by board member Bruce Holden, which proposed a project aimed at determining how local water companies could feasibly extend the reach of their systems. Holden’s reasoning was straightforward; if more residents are on a water system, there will be less domestic wells.

“In certain areas of Basin #162, there is a significant number of private wells and there’s overdraft problems in portions of the valley,” Holden explained of his proposal.

He noted that several years ago, the water district had started researching the possibility of drilling a well on what is known as the “fan”, where water levels have been rising, which could then be used to provide water to residents living on the valley “floor”, where water levels have been dropping.

“That plan, the cost of it was so far out of reality of what this board could reasonably expect to spend that it never went anywhere,” Holden remarked. “So what I am looking to do, in these areas where there is the highest overdraft potential, is there something we could do to facilitate the expansion of the private water companies, to serve those areas? Because you can’t keep drilling wells deeper forever.”

Holden said his proposal would be to prepare a draft scope of work and identify potential contractors to produce a study to “determine a path forward to expand the reach of commercial water and wastewater service providers within the Nye County portion of Nevada Hydrographic Basin #162.”

“The proposal is to basically get someone to look at, what are there barriers to expanding these water systems? Is there something we can do as a board to facilitate that? Do we have to throw money in it? Is there grant money we could get to potentially accomplish this? Basically, all the questions so the board will have information as to whether there is anything we can do, within a reasonable budget, to help with overdraft protection,” Holden detailed.

Public comment on the item saw nothing but opposition to the idea, with former Nye County Commissioner John Koenig stating that this was definitely not something he would agree with.

“I personally think it’s a bad idea. I moved here to have my own well and septic… I think everybody out here who has a well would probably say, ‘Don’t touch my well’,” Koenig asserted.

Area resident Dwight Lilly chimed in to state that the concept of the water board assisting with utility expansion was simply cost-prohibitive “This has already been discussed a lot, kicked around by the state engineer and everybody. The amount of money to do this would be absolutely astounding,” Lilly said.

Tammy Pitman, a local resident currently on a utility system, then called into question the wisdom of facilitating private water company expansion, noting that it had taken two years just for her water provider to fix a leak at her property. “You want them to be in charge of fixing things and keeping the water?” She queried with evident skepticism.

Tina Bond-Klugin also spoke on the item, questioning how the water board knows that there are areas of declining water levels and asking if the water district was illegally monitoring domestic wells in the valley. However, Nye County General Manager Dann Weeks said this was certainly not the case, explaining that the water district has voluntarily metered wells and years of data it relies on when looking at water levels.

“The water district does not go on anybody’s property to monitor your wells,” Weeks emphasized. “If you have a commercial well, the Nevada State Engineer’s Office monitors meters on commercial wells. But there is nobody coming onto your (residential) property in the middle of the night to do some clandestine check on your wells. That has never happened, that’s not going to happen.”

Weeks noted that if someone were using more than the two acre-feet of water allowed per domestic well, it would be obvious from the state of the property itself. In the event that someone suspects their neighbor of overusing water, Weeks said they can contact either the Nevada State Engineer’s Office or the water district itself, which will investigate the matter. If it is believed that there is overuse, the state engineer will take any necessary action.

“The state engineer’s office is ultimately the only one with the authority, the water district does not have any authority in regulating your domestic well,” Weeks reiterated.

When the discussion came to a close, Holden made the motion to direct Weeks to prepare a scope of work and determine potential contractors for a study into utility infrastructure expansion. However, his fellow board members were obviously not so keen on the idea. None offered support for the motion, which then died for lack of a second.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com