Southern Nevada Water Authority's pipeline plan draws fire during hearing

ELY— A plan to funnel billions of gallons of rural groundwater to Las Vegas NV came under wide-ranging attack Thursday, as opponents laid out legal, scientific & even spiritual arguments against the - Southern NV Water Authority’s pipeline. Lawyers representing Great Basin ranchers, environmentalists, American Indian tribes & two counties in Utah spent the - day trying to convince a district judicial judge to overturn a 2011 ruling by State Engineer Jason King granting water for the - arguable project. In turn, lawyers for the - state & the - authority defended King’s work, which cleared the - wholesale water agency to eventually pump up to 84,000 acre-feet of groundwater a year — — enough for more than 160,000 homes — — from four rural valleys in Lincoln & White Pine counties.