We're pleased to see Douglas County commissioners support keeping water rights in Carson Valley, but actually doing it will be tricky.
There is no shortage of demand for the water Carson Valley ranchers are presently using to keep their fields green. Every drop of water flowing in the Carson River is owned by someone.
The river water rights recently sold downstream are a private property right but are subject to public review by the state engineer. That review is based on whether the rights are being put to beneficial use and the age of the water right.
County Commission chairman Jim Baushke is right when he says those rights, once sold out of the Valley, are unlikely to ever come back.
And as growth continues in places like Lyon and Washoe counties, the demand for water will only increase.
The only thing that has prevented a major rush on the river is the lack of water treatment plants in the basin. People shouldn't eat the fish in some parts of the Carson River, much less drink its untreated waters.
But irrigation from the river is responsible for much of the recharge in Carson Valley and therefore the source of most of our drinking water. Selling water rights downstream means less water placed on Valley fields and less water in the aquifer.
That's an equation that could turn Carson Valley's green to brown in a hurry.
