Activists concerned about Nevada's water supply toured the Lovelock Valley during last week's “Great Basin Water Tour.” Visitors learned how water is delivered to farms in the oldest irrigation network on the Humboldt River, thanks to Pershing County Water Conservation District Manager Bennie Hodges.
Organized by the Progressive Leadership Alliance, Great Basin Resource Watch and the Great Basin Water Network, the group visited farmers, ranchers, tribal leaders and scenic areas across the state before converging in Baker at “ground zero” of the fight over a groundwater diversion for Las Vegas.
“The tour aims to bridge the gap between rural and urban communities who all depend on water for life,” the tour organizers said in their press release. “We seek to deepen our collective understanding of what sustainable and respectful water management means and how we can work together.”
Hodges summarized the long history of the irrigation district. After some of the oldest water rights on the river, dating back to the 1800's, were hammered out in decree court, they were later consolidated into a cooperative irrigation system. The maximum amount of water delivered by the district is the same for each acre of land owned by over 100 farmers making it unique in the Humboldt River Basin.
The district was organized to end disputes over the valley's limited water resources, Hodges said.
Water network
Big 5, Roger's Dam and Pitt Dam are some of the diversion structures that divert water from the river into a 122-mile network of canals and ditches. At Pit Dam, metal gates are cranked up and down and wooden boards are inserted or removed to divide the water between the Upper and Lower Valley.
“There's half a working gate in this bay then there's two working gates over there,” Hodges explained. “All of the rest of the bays have 4 by 6 foot boards in them. We still use what we call harpoons with 12 foot handles. We drive the harpoons into each end of the boards and pull them out one by one.”
The highlight of the tour was the Rye Patch Dam now holding 159,000 acre-feet of river water in the Rye Patch Reservoir according to Hodgles. To control the rising lake level and avoid an uncontrolled spill, Hodges must release more water than is needed for irrigation. At the same time, farmers expect him to store as much water as the 195,000 acre-foot reservoir will hold for the next irrigation season.
In “normal” water years, reservoir water is released through a 16 foot trash rack and 14 foot drain pipe at the bottom of the lake about 400 yards from the dam, Hodges said. This year, water is also flowing through the radial gates and down the spillway as well as through the penstock tubes inside the dam.
Hodges guided the group into the belly of the 80-year-old dam to the penstock and the control rooms. Some visitors wondered if it was safe to go inside a dirt and concrete structure beneath tons of water.
“Remember when we were up on top of the radial gates and looking down on that water? When we get up here, we're going to be underneath the radial gates and that water,” Hodges said. “Alright, let's go.”
As for the hydroelectric power plant standing idle as water surged by down the spillway, Hodge said a series of issues including an inept contractor and an old penstock has delayed but not killed the project.
“The contractor walked off the job and went belly up so we're finishing it ourselves,” he said. “We're still trying to get the hydro power project done but we're stumbling and falling along the way.”
New water law
Hodges and his visitors celebrated a new water law passed during the 2017 state legislative session. Great Basin Resource Watch Director John Hadder helped lobby for the “Healthy Basins Bill” that requires all water permits, temporary or not, to be counted in water basin budgets by the state water engineer. The intent is to balance groundwater pumping with groundwater recharge in each water basin.
“Historically, the mining permits were not calculated in the basin budgets, unlike other water permits,” Hadder said. “There was this unclarity. We fixed that this legislative session. Our language did make it through and now it is Nevada law that the state engineer has to put everything in the basin budgets.”
According to Hodges, irrigation wells in the Winnemucca area pump more than the annual groundwater recharge. That amounts to one of the largest water over-appropriations in the Humboldt River Basin.
“Grass Valley, Paradise Valley and the Winnemucca segment — every year they are permitted to pump 150,000 acre-feet more than the perennial yield,” he said. “That adds up. We're downstream and we're the last ones in line so we're being affected the most. The biggest loss is coming from Winnemucca.”
Ground and surface water studies of the Humboldt River Basin are expected to help state water officials pinpoint the impacts of wells and provide the legal defense needed for curtailments of groundwater pumping. Meanwhile, the irrigation district is challenging state water policies in court.
“Get these basins back into equilibrium,” Hodges told visitors during the tour. “If the perennial yield is 30,000 acre-feet then don't issue water permits for 40,000 or 50,000 acre-feet more in those basins.”
