THE WATER RIGHTS PROCESS
The Nevada Division of Water Resources, Office of the State Engineer is responsible for administering water law and managing Nevada's water resources. The water rights process is separate and distinct from the right-of-way process. The BLM, through the Environmental Impact Statements (EIS's), will analyze potential impacts from construction and operation of pipelines, power lines, pump stations, wells, and other facilities for the conveyance of water owned by the Applicant under Nevada State Law. The EIS's will also include impacts analyses of indirect and cumulative impacts of the proposed withdrawals from the affected basins. The BLM will then issue a decision on the right-of-way application. However, the BLM does not have authority to make any decisions regarding the amount of water to be pumped, nor will the agency decide what basins or points of diversion will be used.
The BLM participates in the water rights process in the same manner as any Nevada citizen. This includes protesting water rights applications that may affect resources for which BLM is responsible. The BLM, like any Nevada citizen, may also enter into Stipulated Agreements with the water rights Applicants and withdraw protests accordingly. These Stipulated Agreements often allow the agencies to assure that their resources are more completely protected through stringent monitoring and mitigation that might not be required as part of the water rights appropriation. Sometimes these stipulated agreements call for additional negotiations. If at any time during the process consensus cannot be reached, all parties to the Stipulated Agreement maintain their right to use the Nevada Water Right's process.
Various Department of Interior agencies have entered into Stipulated Agreements with water rights applicants in basins where BLM is also processing right-of-way applications to transport that water. There is no legal connection between the Stipulated Agreements and the Environmental Impact Statements being prepared to process the right-of-way application. However, in some cases the BLM may choose to recognize in the EIS any monitoring and/or mitigation actions required by the Stipulated Agreement. Within the EIS, the BLM may adopt these requirements as well as require additional monitoring and mitigation if necessary. If monitoring activities show that impacts to Federal resources are occurring, the BLM, like any other affected party, would use Nevada State Law to address the concerns.
Click here to view Stipulated Agreements or for information about upcoming hearings.
