We are asking for as many people as possible to download the document “WRITTEN COMMENT TO INTERIM ORDER #1330” and not only sign your support but give your friends and Neighbors an opportunity to sign as well. All Responses must be received at the following address by July 5th to be considered.
Mr. Adam Sullivan
State Engineer
State of Nevada Division of Water Resources
901 S. Stewart St. #2002
Carson City, NV 89701
RE: WRITTEN COMMENT TO INTERIM ORDER #1330
To the governing and regulating agencies of water rights in hydrographic Basin 230:
Order #1330 will place even more onerous restrictions over a more expensive geographic area on the movements of water rights (changes in point of diversion & place of use) within Basin 230.
These restrictions are being placed on water right movements with the stated goal of protecting the Devil’s Hole Pupfish, by ensuring that the water level in Devil’s Hole doesn’t drop more than 2. 7 feet below the steel bolt.
But, the historical record (see attached Graph) does not support the need for further restrictions on the use of water in Basin 230. In fact, the water level in Devil’s Hole is higher today than it was in 1980 (over 40 years ago) despite the overall increase in groundwater pumping in the Amargosa Farms area since that time.
Rather, this graph supports the contention that groundwater pumping in the Amargosa Farms area does not affect the water level in Devil’s Hole, which is situated on the other side of a gravity fault and whose water comes from a distinct, separate source.
Order #1330 is an ill-conceived and ill-crafted attempt to be a solution to a problem that does NOT exist.
Order #1330 casts a pall of uncertainty over the owners of water rights in Basin 230 by subjecting any request to move water pumping and use (other than domestic wells) to the approval or denial by an unelected bureaucrat depending on their interpretation and application of the continually evolving and changing Death Valley Regional Ground Flow Model.
This Nevada Department of water Resources’ overreach is resulting in the effective diminishment and “taking” of these private property rights from their lawful owners, resulting in the curtailment of economic growth and opportunities for the residents of Amargosa Valley and Nye County.
Order #1330 needs to be re-crafted to support and enable the lawful use of water rights by their holders, freeing them from the capricious, arbitrary, and discriminatory whims and decisions of unelected bureaucrats without due process.
Given the above facts, WE, the undersigned, hereby respectfully request that Order #1330 be sent “back to the drawing board” to properly reflect the facts of the Devil’s Hole water level and solicit additional input from residents, boards, ( i.e. Nye County water Board) and local governing entities of Amargosa Valley and Nye County, to ensure that the full scope of the issues and adverse impacts to the local residents and water right holders have been adequately identified, quantified, and are taken into consideration in the final Order #1330.
Response to INTERIM ORDER #1330
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Actual INTERIM ORDER #1330
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