Two New Laws dealing with wells have been enacted...
This law provides the State Engineer with the right to establish administrative fines for violation of the water laws. There are also provision allowing the State Engineer to pursue injunctions to prevent or stop water wastage. We will concentrate on this Laws of interest to well owners.
Sections 3, 7, 10 and 14 of this bill provide the State Engineer with the authority to impose administrative fines, This is the meat as far as well owners are concerned.
Section 7 provides that the State Engineer has to prove who, on a multiple user well, is over drafting. It also allows the State Engineer to compel the installation of individual meters if usage is in question. (There is an action under way by the SNWA Ground Water Committee to cover part of the cost of such meters if they become neccessary. We think this premature but helpful)
Section 16 requires the State Engineer to consider waiving of the administrative fines for over usage below some threshold. It is our intent t set this threshold at 2 acre feet. This would effectively homogenize the limits of residental wells to the quantity available to a domestic well.
Section 17 requires the State Engineer to report what has transpired to the next Legislative session.
Section 18 pospones any enforcement until after the next Leguslative Session.
Overall then we will find out over the next period whether or not we have acceptable regulations. If not we have the 2009 Legislative Session to try and get any problem repaired.
This legislation is judged acceptable by the Board of Directors if the waiver limit is set at 2 acre feet per annum. We will support this legislation with that limit.
From the wellowners view this provides the opportunity for a domestic well to build and supply an accessory building. It requires the owner to meter the well on adding the additional building.
This provision does not obviously read on a quasi-municipal well. So such wells remain in no-mans-land. Some have been able to obtain permits for this use but it appears clear that the well must be under its limit for it to work.
A furhter provision provides an appropriation date for a domestic well. In and of itself this is appears to be an innocuous provision. It does however provide the opportunity for a battle one day about order and rights. Best left for that day.
Other terms deal with esoteric of the State Engineer and Water Authorities that may well come to haunt us but are not obviously applicable to the domestic or quasi-municipal well owner.
A Little Light Reading about Las Vegas Water Use.
Read about the 100 largest water users in Las Vegas here:
The list of the 100 is here:
And an RJ article about water usage by the movers and shakers is here:
The current issue of our newsletter is available here.
The very interesting minutes of the Assembly Government Affairs Committee can be found here
The text of AB213 is located here.
Coache pitch on fines etc. here.
The State Engineer's Report to the 2005 Legislature here.