Because Utah Senator Bennett had inserted mandatory negotiations into the White Pine County land use bill some kind of negotiated settlement between Utah and Nevada must occur before any water from Snake Valley is pumped to Southern Nevada.  The negotiations are to be limited to the recently delineated boundaries of Snake Valley.   Utah and Nevada agree that the area receives roughly 150,000 acre-feet of precipitation annually. Out of that, about 104,000 acre-feet makes its way into the aquifers underneath.  Existing water rights have been accepted and quantified so that impacts can be mitigated.  In addition sensitive species that can be found in Snake Valley such as Least chub, the Columbia spotted frog and Bonneville cutthroat trout cannot be threatened.  The head of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Michael Styler has committed his agency to extensive groundwater monitoring, however additional legislative appropriations is necessary to continue this testing. 

Obviously the amount of precipitation cannot be accurately analyzed on an annual basis since these rates will vary by year.  This is especially true in such a naturally arid area of Utah.  The numbers above have to be considered averages, at best, and it would be interesting to know how the states came to agreement on these numbers.  These numbers are critical since they will form the basis of any water agreement.  If the numbers are too high then the risk of aquifer mining is equally high, and the ability to sustain perpetual pumping over time will be diminished.  Aquifer mining would of course threaten sensitive species such as the ones mentioned above.  The need to define “threaten” is great under the circumstances.