SAN FRANCISCO — The Nevada Legislature is facing requests to form water authorities with bonding powers in two different counties.
If approved, both agencies would use bonds to finance acquisitions of water rights and pipeline construction.
The Senate Committee on Natural Resources introduced a bill on behalf of Nye County — the state’s largest in land mass, but with a tiny population — to create a water authority that would effectively safeguard assets in the area.
The day after the March 6 introduction, the Senate referred the Nye County bill to the Government Affairs Committee, which has yet to put the bill on its agenda.
The bill would require a two-thirds majority to pass the Senate before going to the House for further consideration.
A bid to form a super-regional water authority in the Reno area will become part of an omnibus natural resources bill expected by the March 26 deadline for introducing new legislation, said lead sponsor Sen. Maurice Washington, a Republican from Washoe County, where Reno is located.
The proposed Washoe County Water Authority would span Reno and Sparks, plus two general improvement districts in the area: Sun Valley and Stem Gate.
Much of this territory already falls under the jurisdiction of the Truckee Meadows Water Authority. Other water authorities have territories overlapping with the general improvement districts of Sun Valley and Stem Gate, but there are also undeveloped portions of Washoe County that don’t yet fall into the jurisdiction of a water authority.
The proposed Washoe County Water Authority would effectively extend TMWA’s service area to the entire county and give the resulting entity a new name.
“TMWA supports this very much because we’d like to see our local stamp on this,” said Jeff Tissier, TMWA’s financial manager.
Even if either the Washoe or Nye County water authority bills pass by the close of the legislative session this June, bond issuance wouldn’t happen right away.
“The idea is to set up the legal entity and then it would be a matter of organizing ourselves, which we’re very much prepared to do,” Tissier said.
This contrasts with the state of affairs in Nye County, where a new water authority would start from scratch.
Located in the south-central part of the state, with a population less than 50,000, Nye is surrounded by eight other Nevada counties that all have their own water needs — most notably, Clark County to the southeast.
“Water needs are growing so fast in the state. This is for Nye to protect its water assets,” Washington said.
Nye’s fastest-growing neighbor, Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, is indeed hoping to get water rights in surrounding areas — but not in Nye County, according to a spokesman for the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
“All of pending applications for water rights from are in Lincoln and White Pine counties,” said Scott Huntley, SNWA spokesman.
