County, Minden discuss water

Douglas County and Minden officials are to kick off the new year with a long-awaited meeting Wednesday to discuss water issues.

"We had requested this a long time ago," said Minden vice chairman Dave Sheets. "Then, it got delayed, the agenda wasn't what people wanted. We kept pushing and saying we have a lot of things that have a common interest that may be coming to a head at this point."

Minden recently hired a California law firm to represent the town's vast water holdings from a challenge by the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe which seeks to halt all water transfers.

"The majority of what I perceive this meeting to be is wrapped around water," Sheets said. "We're not going to say, 'We're hiring a law firm. Do you want to participate?'

"For me, it's to try to figure out, 'Do you, as a county, see this as a serious threat? Of paramount importance?' Or, 'this, too, shall pass.'"

Tribal lawyers argued Carson Valley's groundwater is "severely over-appropriated," and more groundwater use means less flow in the Carson River to Lake Lahontan.

That means more diversions from the Truckee River resulting in less water to Pyramid Lake, the tribe claimed.

In late October, State Engineer Tracy Taylor rejected the tribe's move to block 19 separate applications to move or change existing water rights in Douglas County.

He ruled that the fact some Carson River water owners weren't using their full allotment, allowing the excess to flow to the Newlands Project, doesn't give the tribe and others the legal right to the water in the future.

Taylor said the tribe failed to make a legal connection between its Truckee River water rights and groundwater rights in the Carson Valley.

The tribe appealed Taylor's ruling just before Thanksgiving which means the transfers remain halted.

With 10,000 acre-feet of water rights, Minden owns the largest holdings on the Carson River valued at $129 million.

The joint meeting is set for 5 p.m. Wednesday at the CVIC Hall and expected to last 90 minutes.

Agenda items include litigation related to the management transfer and use of water rights; approval of infrastructure projects including pipeline construction and other improvements to connect town and county water systems.

Issues related to water resource planning, quality and management including options for addressing arsenic, nitrates and federal and state drinking water standards also are to be discussed.

Sheets said the town is hoping to get a look at the most recent Federal Emergency Management Agency flood plain map.

"We've heard it's in preliminary form now and ready for people to look at it and digest it, maybe for the next year," Sheets said.

The town also is interested in advancing plans with the county for a water line along Heybourne Road to facilitate the transfer of Minden water.

Sheets said he was looking forward to tonight's meeting.

"This is our opportunity to be cooperative and work together on a couple of significant problems and projects. I think it's the defining moment whether or not the town and county truly can and should be working together for the betterment of everyone," Sheets said.

DETAILS

Joint meeting between Town of Minden and Douglas County, 5 p.m., Wednesday, CVIC Hall, Esmeralda Avenue, Minden; 6:30 p.m., staff reports; 7 p.m. regular agenda including discussion of U.S. Postal Service process to procure new Minden post office site; bid review of sign at Jake's Wildlife and Wetland Meadow; discuss installation of calliope on 1937 La France Fire Truck for use at town events. Information, 782-5976.