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Mar. 04, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

ACROSS STATE LINES: Views heard on water proposal

Judge to make recommendation on company's request to pump water from Arizona to Mesquite

By HENRY BREAN
REVIEW-JOURNAL

BEAVER DAM, Ariz. -- An unprecedented plan to use groundwater from Arizona to support growth across the border in Mesquite is getting its day in court.

Or in this case, basketball court.

Testimony began Friday in an administrative hearing that could decide whether Wind River Resources, an Arizona company, should be allowed to export groundwater to Nevada.

The three-day hearing is being held in the gym at Beaver Dam High School, home of the Diamondbacks. Administrative Law Judge Thomas Shedden presides over the proceeding from a raised platform set up underneath one of the baskets. Student-drawn signs on the walls nearby read "Welcome to the Snake Pit" and "Beware of the Bite."

In March 2005, Wind River Resources filed a rare application to supply Mesquite with groundwater from the so-called "Arizona Strip," where Interstate 15 dips into the northwest corner of the Grand Canyon State on its way from Nevada to Utah.

Arizona never has granted such an export application.

Wind River wants to sell the water to the Virgin Valley Water District, which services the Mesquite area. The company also wants to piggyback on Mesquite's water system, using it to deliver water back across the border to Scenic, a growing residential area on the Arizona Strip.

The plan has drawn criticism from area residents who worry that large-scale groundwater pumping could lower the water table and endanger their wells.

The administrative hearing under way operates much like a trial, complete with a court reporter and witnesses who are sworn in before they testify. It is slated to last until tonight, after which Shedden will consider the evidence and recommend a course of action within the next 20 days. The Arizona Department of Water Resources and its director, Herb Guenther, will have 30 days after that to make the final decision on Wind River's application.

Department spokesman Jack Lavelle said Guenther will not be bound by the results of the administrative hearing. "It carries no more weight than a recommendation," Lavelle said. "(The director) can do the opposite of the judge's recommendation if he wants."

Among those testifying on behalf of Wind River was Michael E. Johnson, chief hydrologist for the Virgin Valley Water District. He said that without an additional source of water, Mesquite could begin to outgrow its current supply within the next five to seven years. Johnson also testified that none of the groundwater piped to Mesquite would be sold for use in the Las Vegas Valley, an allegation made by some of Wind River's opponents.

He was cross-examined by representatives from the Arizona Department of Water Resources, who sat at a table near center court. They challenged Johnson's claims that pumping the water wouldn't affect wells that serve Beaver Dam and Littlefield.

Growth is a key issue on all sides of the dispute.

Before Beaver Dam High opened three years ago, students in the northwestern corner of Mohave County, Ariz., had to go to Mesquite for grades 9-12. Now the high school has 132 students and the entire district has 570 students.

"We're growing rapidly," said Riley Frei, the 32-year-old superintendent of the Littlefield Unified School District.

The district serves Beaver Dam, Littlefield, Scenic and Desert Springs, Ariz., which have a combined population of 3,500 to 5,000 people, not counting seasonal residents.

"I'm certainly against the application," said Frei, who did not testify. "The concern to me is we have a significant population right here in Beaver Dam and Littlefield."

The water transfer does nothing for those communities, other than potentially endanger their groundwater supply, he said.

Las Vegas car dealer Jim Marsh also attended the hearing on Friday but was not called as a witness. Marsh said he was there because he owns stock in Wind River. But even if he didn't, he said, he would favor the export project because it will allow Mesquite to grow.

"It's a big benefit to Nevada," he said.

Leading the opposition to the proposal is Bob Frisby, whose Beaver Dam Water Company serves about 1,000 customers in the Arizona Strip.

Frisby predicts denial for Wind River's application, which he said reads in places like it was prepared "by a fifth-grader."

Whatever Arizona water regulators decide, the matter is expected to end up before a higher court, where it could trigger a broader, constitutional argument over interstate water transfers.

Marsh said Wind River representatives are prepared to file suit should their application be rejected.

Frisby and his fellow opponents also are ready to continue their fight.

Since the application was filed, they have circulated petitions, packed public meetings and set up a Web site, NoNevadaWaterGrab.com, which they advertise on two large banners, one on each side of I-15.

"It's just a bad application," Frisby said. "It's too incomplete."

Truck driver Ward Curto uses a fire hydrant to fill up his water truck in Mesquite in December. Curto was spraying water at a new construction site to control dust. Wind River Resources, an Arizona-based water company, is facing opposition to a plan to build a water pipeline from nearby Beaver Dam, Ariz. If built, the pipeline would help Mesquite meet its growing water needs.
Photo by John Locher.