Comments about ‘Snake Valley water deal appears imminent’

Herbert, what is with you? Without this water Utah can't expand. Nevada gets the water that's left (if any) and Utah only gets what they are using now? You sign the agreement now, and say they can't have it until 2019? Just wait till then, after it's (50,000 acre feet) proved it exists.

The aquifer is mostly in Utah contrary to the article.

The source of the water being held in the aquifer is mostly in Nevada.

Nevada officials are happy with the agreement, and Gov. Herbert says "an agreement is better than none and the interests of Utah are best served by an agreement." Really, Gary, that's the best you could do? They get what they want, and we get the leftovers?

I hope the DesNews sees this as a chance to do some investigative reporting on exactly how that kind of agreement could be reached. Something stinks.

What a incredible tragedy. There is NO surplus water in either state. Water grab for Vegas,.... no wonder the country thinks Utahns are from a different planet. Who gives up water when you are the 2nd dryest state in the country?? If Vegas wants water, they need to contract with California to build desalination plants on the coast and pipe it up from So Cal. Hope everyone here is prepared for the dust storms to come

This only proves to you what we in outlying areas of the state have known for years -- government in this state is of, by, and for people along the Wasatch Front only.

The rest of us simply DO NOT matter.

Well -- I guess we'll have to fend for ourselves.

Pumping this quantity of water out of the Snake Valley will dry up all the springs and seeps, destroying critical habitat of the Ute ladies’-tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis), which was listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act on 17 January 1992. The species is known from fewer than 6,000 individuals in 10 extant and 7 historical (and presumed extirpated) populations in Colorado, Nevada, and Utah and is considered extremely vulnerable to extinction from habitat loss/modification, small population size, and low reproductive rate.

Look for our soon-to-be-filed civil complaint in Federal District Court under the ESA to stop all action on this cynical and dangerous destruction of the West Desert environment.

Have a nice day!

So, did anyone really think the governor wouldn't sign this? Just adds to my thinking that Utah is the most environmentally backward state in the nation. I'm outa here before the dust blows radioactive, or whatever contaminated dust is bound to come from that valley as scientists predict. What is supposed to be the LDS mecca is steadily turning into Paradise Lost. Sad, really, really sad. Faith apparently has nothing to do with good stewardship of the earth. I tried to stay but goodbye.

Utilization of water in a more responsible way needs to be stressed. Desert vegetation needs a stable water source for growth, preventing barren land subject to erosion and also providing food/water for livestock and wildlife - these needs far outrank filling swimming pools, constructing showy water fountains, and building golf courses in the middle of the desert for an ever-expanding population. We need to lessen the demand for our limited water supply and other natural resources by wise useage/stewardship, and also by controlling the numbers of people we permit into our country. Overcrowding and competition for such resources leads to hostility, desperation, and aggression. We need to build and sustain our natural world, not fight against nature with unrealistic demands.

Governor Herbert must consider the future, unrelenting impact of unwise give-aways which will affect our state and its water-starved desert lands.

There is a lot of speculation in this article and I don't think we've heard the whole story here-particularly Gov. Herbert's side of the story. No agreement has been made so let's not jump to premature conclusions. From what I have seen of our Governor, he is very good at looking at all sides of the issue, becoming educated about it, bringing all sides together and making a reasonable, rational decision. I'm going to withhold judgement until that decision is made.

Have Utah officials looked at swapping a portion of the water they are going to move (pump) from Lake Powell to Iron, Kane, and Washington Counties with the City of Las Vegas? Seems it would be more economical to release the needed water from Lake Powell downstream to Lake Meade where Las Vegas could draw it rather than build a pipe line from Snake Valley to Las Vegas. Perhaps Kane, Iron, and Washington Counties could even lease their water rights for the immediate future until this dispute settled and could then draw (gravity feed) their water out of Snake Valley at some future date as needed. Las Vegas would surely be willing to pay for the pipe line construction to supply water to these Utah Counties . . . think of the billions it would save.

Utah is growing also. If Utah county expands to the west (Eagle mountain area) it will need this water. Why don't we wait for the study?

The aquifer is 70% in Utah. 60% of the snowpack comes from Nevada, but that only feeds the shallow aquifer. The deep glacier aquifer comes from Lake Bonneville which covered Northern Utah. Nevada wants water from both aquifers.

Tough spot to be in...getting concessions from Nevada or wait and hope the courts kill the thing completely.

Re: All these pipe lines
What a silly thing to say. A pipeline would still be needed to get the water to the south but then Utah would have to pay for it.

The Governor and his stooges who got out-negotiated by Nevada just wasted our time with all the maneuvers in coming out to Snake Valley, and then Delta, and then acting all concerned listening to citizens' comments. What a sham. It was all a fake show of concern.

Nevada has stolen tens of thousands of acre feet of groundwater per year that fairly is Utah's. Governor Herbert, the next Owens Valley is the Utah Portion of Snake Valley, and the death of that valley lies at your feet. The death of an ecosystem is your legacy, Governor Herbert. Thanks for nothing. May someone else, hopefully Mayor Corroon beat you in the elections this Fall.

You've dropped the ball on this story. There was a major development with the governor deciding not to sign (for now) last week. I read about it in the SLTrib and kept waiting for something here. Where are you guys?!

By the time the governor makes the decision you're apparently waiting for (by signing the agreement) it will be too late. I don't know if you're one of his supporters trying to tamp down opposition until he can vote it (as he was apparently inclined to do) or if you are just inertial and oblivious. Either way, wake up! Water is our lifeblood and we can't just sit quietly by while it is given away!

Please sue to stop this thing if that's what it's going to take. All of the governor's talk in the hearings on this issue seem to have been just that--talk--because his best argument in favor of it (agreement better than no agreement) is absolutely idiotic! Of course agreeing to give away water that no one even know if it exists but will still be claimed by Las Vegas to suck the aquifir dry is worse than working for a more fair deal.

Expect the dust storms along Wasatch Front from the over-pumped west desert valleys. This alone will cause more "RED" air quality index days!

. . . in preparation, but we need more help and greater numbers.

Every West Desert resident, native, hunter, rancher, farmer, and recreationist -- or anyone with an iterest in helping them -- should be contacting the Sierra Club, the Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Utah Environmental Congress, and/or HealUTAH, demanding they join [or, better yet, take responsibility for, and apply their resources to] the lawsuit being prepared to require the EPA and BLM, under the Endangered Species Act, to take all action necessary to protect critical Snake Valley habitat of the Ute ladies’-tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis).

I know this is unlike anything we've done before, and that we usually see these organizations as the enemy, but we're being forced by lack of interest in the Legislature, the Governor's office, and along the Wasatch Front generally, to make a deal with the devil.

Better the devil we know than the one we don't.