Editor's Note: Las Vegas: Me so thirsty

It would be difficult to find more than a handful of people in the Las Vegas Valley who seriously question the Southern Nevada Water Authority's plan to build hundreds of miles of pipelines into rural Nevada to tap the groundwater. Most Las Vegans don't know much about rural Nevada and they don't care. To them, it's a vast wasteland of dirt and cactus, suitable only for Air Force bombing exercises, nuclear bomb tests and secret military research on crashed alien aircraft. Oh yeah, and annual Burning Man confabs.

Well, those Las Vegans might be surprised to learn that actual humans live in rural Nevada. Thousands of them. Not hundreds of thousands, no. The folks who populate Nevada's small towns and cities, as well as the ranches and other outposts between them, have chosen a lifestyle that does not involve hundreds of thousands of people crammed into one valley. They have jobs and houses and families and activities, much like their urban brethren. They just don't have high-speed Internet.

Turns out that while the water importation plan sounds like a wonderful idea to Las Vegans, a lot of rural people aren't so sure. Why, they wonder, should we give away our precious groundwater to greedy Las Vegas and get practically nothing in return? Besides, what if greedy Las Vegas pumps too much water out of the aquifers, resulting in, among other things, ruined animal habitat and grazing lands?

Mike O'Callaghan, executive editor of the Las Vegas Sun, is not among those Las Vegans who assume the rural water grab is a panacea. O'Callaghan remembers well that Las Vegas has a dismal track record with groundwater.

"Any large amount of water pumped from beneath the ground can have a devastating effect on the natural environment in a dry state like Nevada," O'Callaghan wrote Sunday. "We almost destroyed the Las Vegas Valley during the 1950s and early 1960s before the state identified the irreparable damage being done. The valley sunk several feet as the water was pumped from it. Local artesian wells dried up and pumps were left standing in the air as the ground sunk deeper and deeper."

Let's recall for a moment that Las Vegas means "the meadows." It acquired this name in the 19th century because of the artesian springs bubbling out of the ground and the lush greenery growing up around these springs. It was a literal oasis amid a very harsh desert, its water providing much-needed refreshment to thirsty explorers, traders and immigrants. In short, we used to have a boatload of groundwater here, so much so that some wells were left uncapped, with water shooting into the air day after day after day. Today, the only water bubbling out of the ground is from a broken sprinkler line.

Times change, of course. We know better than to waste our water, right? Hah. Despite recent conservation measures, Las Vegas still uses more water per capita than any other Western community. With this drought hanging over our heads, we've been getting a little better, but we have a long way to go before we will stand as a model of conservation. Oh, by the way, the County Commission relaxed its drought rules last week, so go ahead and wash your car in the driveway.

Rural Nevadans read the papers, watch the news. They know full well that Las Vegas has only its own best interests at heart. They aren't convinced when Southern Nevada Water Authority officials insist that "the single biggest issue in developing these resources is doing it in such a way that there's a high degree of comfort that we're not destroying the communities of origin or the environment."

The water authority isn't evil. It isn't bent on destroying Ely or Pioche. But don't blame rural residents if they're a little skeptical of the agency's gushing idealism. What Las Vegas wants is more water. Las Vegas is scared to death that development might have to slow down or stop in 10 years because its Colorado River allocation might be used up. It sees that sparsely populated Lincoln and White Pine counties have some water, and it intends to grab it.

Actually, I suspect this can be done in a way that doesn't destroy the environment or screw the rural counties. Assuming the state engineer keeps a tight grip on the process, insisting that objective studies are conducted and Las Vegas meets the most stringent standards and expectations, rural water importation could be accomplished to the satisfaction of both sides.

But if it turns out the project can be done only to the long-term detriment of the rural counties, it must be stopped. As O'Callaghan notes, "We shouldn't allow our greed for more to destroy the families who are descendants of men and women who made this a great state. People who have carved out a living in this dry climate deserve better treatment."

--GEOFF SCHUMACHER