WATER AND POLITICS DON’T MIX
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Governor Lombardo recently fired the State Engineer, Adam Sullivan—a move which does not bode well for residential and municipal water users who depend on wells for
their supply. The State Engineer administers the Division of Water Resources and is responsible for the management and adjudication of the state’s water resources, including issuing new water rights, approving changes in water use, enforcing water law, and resolving conflicts between different users. Mr. Sullivan’s approach has been described as committed “to making appropriations where there was actually water available, and where there wasn’t going to be conflict with existing rights holders.” Sullivan said his philosophy was to “balance what’s in the public interest for smart growth, making beneficial use of the water resource, but in a way that also protects the resource and protects existing rights.” Mr. Sullivan’s attitude, and his decisions as State Engineer, were clearly unacceptable to the Lombardo administration. Sullivan had broached the idea of “curtailment” with respect to limiting developers, mining companies, and other new “junior” water right holders who wanted expanded access at the expense of existing, “senior” water rights. Curtailment was one factor under discussion in addressing the fundamental water problem facing the state. Nevada has committed water rights totaling 1.5 times the amount of groundwater actually available. In other words, a water right may exist on paper but that is no guarantee the water is there for the taking. Sullivan’s office was not moving forward with curtailment, but they had been holding meetings and working with stakeholders to shape practical, community-driven alternatives before any final decisions were made. The Lombardo administration was having none of it and, as one observer said, even mentioning curtailment cost Mr. Sullivan his job. Mr. Sullivan ran afoul of obviously powerful and, with respect to the Lombardo administration, influential special interests seeking permits for water that simply might not exist or is claimed by other users. In other words, the State Engineer who put science, the law, and the public good ahead of the demands of special interests had to go. The danger is that a new State Engineer, appointed to appease the politically well- connected, will base their decisions on what’s best for them, not the rest of us. What will happen, for example, in District 39 when a new data center begins pumping its full allotment of water even though—since allotments exceed the actual groundwater available—that means less water for residents, farmers, and municipalities who rely on well water from the same aquifer? Will the new State Engineer give fair consideration to stakeholders who might lack the political influence of the well-financed special interests who got him or her the job in the first place? We will see, of course. But the Legislature does have oversight of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and within it the Division of Water Resources. As a legislator, I will join with my colleagues to make sure the State Engineer makes good decisions based on science, the law, and the public interest, not politics. In addition, successful water management requires state-of-the-art equipment and the best, most modern inventory and predictive modeling programs. This long-neglected agency must be properly funded if it is to meet the challenge of managing Nevada’s single most important resource, and I will work to make sure that happens. |
MY WELL WENT DRY!
Governor Lombardo recently fired the State Engineer, an under the radar move which potentially marks a dangerous step away from water rights adjudication based on science, the law, and the public interest and a step toward making it a political exercise directed by well-connected special interest groups.
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