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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The LDS church says groundwater should not be pumped from Nevada's Spring Valley area to Las Vegas until it is determined that will not harm the church and other water-rights holders.
Church attorneys have asked the Nevada state engineer to delay awarding a permit to the Southern Nevada Water Authority until a U.S. Geological Survey study of the region's groundwater resources is completed next year.
The plan is part of the water authority's larger "Clark, Lincoln and White Pine Counties Groundwater Development Project," which would pipe about 200,000 acre-feet of water per year from seven hydrologic basins, including Spring Valley, with most going to the Las Vegas area.
Another piece of the project is in Snake Valley, which straddles the Utah border.
Ranchers on both sides of the Utah-Nevada border and environmental groups have opposed the project, fearing it will dry up water tables and destroy the area's ecosystem and ranching industry.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owns the Cleveland-Rogers Ranch in White Pine County.
The church "does not object to the proposed development of water to the extent that the hydrological information available ... shows a reasonable likelihood that there is unappropriated water available for such a development," church attorney Bruce Findlay wrote in an Aug. 4 letter to Nevada engineer Tracy Taylor.
However, he said the church expresses concern about the impact on other water-rights holders "if the sources proposed for the development will draw upon sources that are already appropriated."
Findlay said several areas identified by the Southern Nevada Water Authority for diversion are near the water sources of the Cleveland-Rogers Ranch, potentially raising concerns about interference with the ranch's senior rights to the water.
While the church is asking for a slowdown of approval for the project, Utah and Nevada officials have been moving ahead to finalize a water sharing agreement that would cover the large aquifer that sits under the state line.
The two states are conducting groundwater testing in the area. But the agreement would precede both the USGS study and an ongoing environmental impact study being done by the Bureau of Land Management.
Last month, Pat Mulroy, general manager of the water authority, the USGS study will not settle the question of how much water sits below the Snake Valley, or how taking 25,000 acre-feet a year out will impact the resource.
She said the only way to determine that is to start withdrawing water and make adjustments as impacts present themselves.
The 4,000-acre Cleveland-Rogers Ranch is part of the church's Welfare Services Department. The church said it provides assistance to the poor through growing crops and raising cattle that are used to provide food for the needy.
The church's Corporation of the Presiding Bishop owns surface and groundwater rights in the Spring Valley area for watering about 1,500 cows and calves.
The Nevada state engineer's office said a hearing on the project will be held Sept. 11 at Carson City.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
