Counties fear Utah selling out Snake Valley water

Counties from the west desert to the Wasatch Front want Utah to back away from an imminent Snake Valley water deal with Nevada. Officials in Millard, Juab and Salt Lake counties fear Utah is about to sign away a big share of the aquifer straddling the state line about 60 miles southwest of Delta. Doing so could enable "water mining" for a 285-mile pipeline to Las Vegas, they say, drying up ranches and wildlife watering holes while wafting dust clouds toward the Salt Lake Valley. "By the time they realize what the impacts are," Millard County Commissioner Daron Smith warned, "it'll be too late." Eskdale farmer Jerald Anderson said his western Utah community's life is at stake. He and his colleagues there raise 300 milking cows. They fear Las Vegas' thirst for 50,000 acre-feet a year would sink the water table out of reach of all other users, who combine to use a third as much. "The water is the basis" for his desert town, he said. "The water is absolutely critical to us being there." Utah negotiators are close to releasing a draft agreement for public review, said state Department of Natural Resources Director Mike Styler. He won't discuss particulars until the document is public later this summer, but he said it protects existing water users, air quality and fish and wildlife. It would divvy the aquifer between the states, allowing Nevada to funnel its share to Las Vegas if that state's water engineer consents...SaltLakeTribune