Thursday's celebration of World Water Day was punctuated with disappointment for Great Basin environmentalists, ranchers and tribes who have been trying to fend off groundwater applications from ever-thirsty Las Vegas.

Nevada State Engineer Jason King issued a long-awaited decision last week granting the Southern Nevada Water Authority the right to pump 84,000 acre-feet of water from four rural valleys. The public agency wants to pipe the water as far as 300 miles to the Vegas metro area, which currently gets 90 percent of its water from the Colorado River system's Lake Mead.

Opponents of the proposed water pipeline are now gearing up for an appeal of the decision, opening yet another chapter in a conflict that has been seething for a decade as Las Vegas scrambles for a solution to its projections of looming water shortages.

The Colorado River has proved increasingly unreliable, facing years of drought and straining the delicate seven-state compact that allocates its water. Couple that with southern Nevada's rapid population growth -- slowed only in recent years by economic recession -- and planners have been looking to secure a more stable water supply for the future (ClimateWire, Jan. 11).

The state engineer fulfilled about 80 percent of the water authority's entire request of 105,000 acre-feet, denying sections that may have conflicted with existing water rights.

The multibillion-dollar project, seen by supporters as a crucial measure to provide for southern Nevada's 2 million residents, has made enemies throughout the Great Basin as varied as environmentalists, ranchers, American Indian tribes and the Mormon church. Their contention is that the basin's high desert simply does not have water to spare.

Ranchers depend on corn and alfalfa to feed their livestock. And if groundwater levels go down, they worry their businesses will be in danger.

Future supplement to the Colorado River

"[The decision] tells me, frankly, that they disregarded public comment," said Susan Lynn, coordinator of the Great Basin Water Network, a nonprofit opposed to the pipeline. "The ramifications are overwhelmingly negative."

Tribes have said they depend on the water for cultural livelihood. The Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, Duckwater Shoshone and Ely Shoshone protested the water proposal before the state engineer last fall, saying it threatens their ancestral lands and agriculture. Led by the Goshutes, the tribes submitted cultural maps and objections to Bureau of Land Management environmental studies of the proposal.

Asher Koles, representative of Round River Conservation Studies, which has worked with the Goshutes on mapping culturally significant sites on their land, said it seemed the tribal opposition was brushed off.

"It's hard to say how Mr. King even took the Goshute Nation's testimony into consideration," Koles said.

Now, the tribes, the Great Basin Water Network and others have 30 days to absorb more than 700 pages of analysis handed down with the decision and determine whether to appeal the water allocation. The Goshutes and the water network have both indicated that appeals are upcoming.

"We plan to continue with our strong resolve to protect our ancestral lands and the life in this valley that contains cultural significance to our people" said Goshute Tribal Council Vice Chairwoman Madeline Greymountain over the weekend.

Added tribal attorney Paul EchoHawk in a statement: "We are deeply disappointed, but not surprised, by the State Engineer's ruling. This marks just the beginning of the Tribes' tireless and resolved fight to protect our water and cultural resources."

With or without appeals, development on the pipeline project is a long way off. The Southern Nevada Water Authority must still secure rights of way on federal land. A final environmental impact statement is expected from BLM this summer. The water authority maintains that it will only pursue the project when need becomes critical.

"We look forward to demonstrating that this critical supply can be managed responsibly in a way that serves our community's needs without undermining Nevada's environmental values," said SNWA's John Entsminger in a statement.