Another Battle in the NV-UT Water War
(Wolfgang Staudt photo.)
Las Vegas needs water, and the State of Nevada plans to siphon it from the aquifer under the desert on the northern Nevada-Utah border. Utah says it needs that water— among other reasons, to prevent desert vegetation from dying and dust storms from inundating the Salt Lake City area.
Two counties in Utah, as well as three Native American tribes, asked to be included in the plan as an "interested party." Nevada said no— any objections should have been filed back in 1989 when the project was first proposed. The two counties are now suing.
A similar battle has begun over water in Southern Utah, and another over water in Arizona. And as Las Vegas grows, they'll seek water from father afield. Meanwhile, municipalities and farmers within Utah are squaring off over an already inadequate suypply of groundwater, while fast-growing St. George, Utah eyes a pipeline from Lake Powell...
Welcome to a world in which water is in short supply. Even here in the U.S., shortages of fresh water (and lack of planning) threaten to create a water crisis. Without water, agriculture is impossible. In the future, who controls the water may well determine who lives and who dies— much as it was in the Old West.
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