A state
official says Arizona should
refuse to permit groundwater
to be pumped from a region
of extreme northwestern
Arizona to serve a growing
area of neighboring Nevada.
An Arizona administrative
law judge recommended that
the Department of Water
Resources director deny the
application by Wind River
Resources, an Arizona
limited liability
corporation.
Wind River wants permission
to pump water from the Muddy
Creek aquifer in the Mormon
Wells area north of Beaver
Dam and transport it to the
Virgin Valley Water District
in nearby Mesquite, Nev.
The
application, which has drawn
opposition from area
residents, called for
exporting 800 acre-feet per
year to start and increasing
to 14,000 in 2045. An
acre-foot of water is about
325,000 gallons, enough to
cover an acre with water a
foot deep.
Some residents in Beaver Dam
and neighboring Littlefield
worry that the project could
leave their wells dry.
Judge Thomas Shedden said
Tuesday in his recommended
order that the application
should be rejected because
Wind River failed to update
key aspects, provided
inaccurate information and
did not submit hydrological
studies on the proposed
pumping's probable impact on
the Mormon Wells area.
That leaves the Department
of Water Resources without
enough information to decide
whether Wind River had
satisfied Arizona's
requirements, including
whether the exported water
would be used for a
"reasonable and beneficial"
use in another state,
Shedden said.
Wind river contended it
submitted all the necessary
documentation to support its
application and that its
project would not harm
existing water users in the
lower Virgin River basin.
Wind River also contends
that the state law requiring
it to get Arizona's
permission to export water
is unconstitutional. Shedden
said that argument is
premature.
Department Director Herb
Guenther has until Nov. 29
to make his decision, which
could be to accept, reject
or modify the
recommendation, department
spokesman Jack LaVelle said
Thursday.
The Arizona regulatory
action on the proposed
transfer comes amid
skirmishing among
Southwestern states on other
regional water issues.
Utah lawmakers have drawn
fire in Nevada for requiring
a federal study of a Las
Vegas-based water agency's
plan to draw groundwater
from eastern Nevada near
Utah, while Arizona has
asked the federal government
to settle a dispute over
proposed changes to a
Colorado River drought plan.
Arizona, Nevada and Utah are
among seven states that draw
water from the Colorado
River, along with
California, Colorado, New
Mexico and Wyoming.
A bill to toughen the
current Arizona law on
exporting water was proposed
earlier this year in the
Legislature. Though the Wind
River Resources project was
cited as an impetus for the
bill, officials said the
proposed legislation could
not have applied
retroactively to the pending
application.
The bill's sponsor,
Republican Rep. Trish Groe
of Lake Havasu City, also
cited an anticipation that
growth from the Las Vegas
area would spill into other
parts of Arizona's Mohave
County.