The State of Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is expected to announce $25 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to retire groundwater rights in the state after receiving $65 million in application requests.
The friends and foes of Western water battles focus on who and what should have the right of use to water. Changing attitudes between the cities and the rural areas are venturing on new territory as the cities need more water for growing populations and the rural areas vie for water for agriculture, wetlands, wildlife, recreation and lifestyle purposes. The approach that the State of Nevada is taking is new, and based on the applications submitted, will put focus on the Walker River, Humboldt River, and other areas where retirement of groundwater rights is needed. The key is that these are ARPA funds that must be utilized by 2026.
This is exciting to those of us that have spent our whole careers working with the social sciences of agricultural water rights. I started working in the Walker River Basin right out of the university in the mid 1990’s as a newspaper reporter covering the Walker River water battles. I began my graduate work focusing on the Walker River Basin in 2001, which was met with a lot of controversy, as I created a research study based on the “Perceptions of Attitudes of Water Right Owners in the Walker River Basin,” which included their thoughts of selling or leasing their water rights.
Senator Harry Reid was instrumental is getting the Desert Terminal Lakes Act in 2002, which was about $300 million in funding for acquiring water rights, providing research, and other projects to revive lakes and watersheds. I worked on a research project at that time focused on alternative crops for Nevada producers through the Extension service. We also had a water project where we had lengthy discussions regarding the “beneficial use” definitions and if they benefited the system or not.
The Walker River, like other rivers in the West and in Nevada, is over allocated. The social issues surrounding water basins in the west are extremely complex. There are situations where basins are simply overallocated. One of the only ways to reverse the overallocation is to reduce the water rights in the basins. While this seems like a simple concept, it is not an easy issue to solve after centuries of law, policy, and natural resource environments.
There are basically two different kinds of law that included the common law and constitutional (including legislative) law. The common law, derived from the colonist English background, was based on the idea of precedent: like cases are decided alike. Judges base decisions not only on the applicable statute but also on how other courts have interpreted the statute. In some areas of common law there were no controlling statutes only rules set forth by appellate courts. This impacts Nevada water rights and decrees that have been set forth.
The legislative process, which is governed by the Constitution and by an intricate set of rules adopted by each house under the powers of the Constitution, begins with citizens’ perception of a problem, issue, or opportunity. While laws originate in a state or at a federal level, it is the citizens that initiate the process by bringing issues to the attention of their elected officials and demand that they take action. This form of action to be taken is in the form of enacted laws that may bring relief. It is through this process that original motivations may become clouded and distorted by political expediency and thought, organized interest groups and lobbyists.
While there was legislation proposed in our last Nevada legislative session, I don’t believe it moved forward. I see this $25 million as the test to see Nevada can take a different approach for long-term impact in overallocated basins. I believe it can be done. What we must remember is that every action taken will have a consequence. The consequence will be positive or negative, and sometimes, we don’t know where it will take us.
This idea of selling or purchasing water rights is going to bring a different risk management approach for our producers living within these basins. The true fact is that agricultural operations must management their risk by planning for death by effective estate planning; and for other life occurrences such as buying out family members, divorce or disability. These types of water retirement programs create opportunities for risk management that include the sale of some water rights, but sustain the overall mission of the operation. Positive opportunities could allow an operation to restructure to become more financially stable and ensure long-term sustainability.
I hope that producers do not look at this new initiative as hurting agriculture. It is exactly the opposite in that it could really protect agriculture and its future in Nevada. Nevada is really thinking about their agricultural future. The individuals facilitating this process should be recognized for acknowledging there is a problem and setting up process to facilitate change.
By Staci Emmn | Editorial