Although Utah State DNR head continues to laud what he says is a fair water deal between Utah and Nevada most others are uniformly rejecting the agreement. Foremost among the opponents of the deal are the Utah Association of Counties not usually known to be on the forefront of environmental causes. The main complaint is that the idea that there is a 50-50 split in water is an illusion. The agreement pertains to approximately 132,000 acre feet of water that is proposed to be split evenly. Remember that an acre foot of water is approximately 326,000 gallons of water or enough water to fill an acre of land with a foot of water. In short, this is a tremendous quantity of water amounting to billions of gallons of water. Much of this water is already allocated to a federal wildlife reserve at Fish Springs, which although proximate to the Snake Valley is not in the Valley itself. This means that the allocation is roughly in favor of Nevada at 59-41 even though the majority of the water lies in Utah. Others have requested documents regarding the negotiations themselves which of course the public was not involved with. It will be interesting to see what exceptions under Public Records Laws they will use to deny the public access to these records.

The main problem here is that they attempt to bring in the public after the agreement has already been drafted meaning that although its technically a draft the substance of the agreement is already set in stone. Public uproar could shift some minor details of the agreement, but its unlikely to change the quantity of water allocated between the two states. Nevertheless, if you can attend the public meetings please do:

Aug. 17 » 1 p.m., Baker, Nev., Baker School auditorium

Aug. 17» 7 p.m., Delta, Utah, Millard County fair building, 81 Manzanita Ave.

Aug. 18 »10 a.m., Salt Lake City, Department of Environmental Quality Building 2, 168 N. 1950 West

Aug. 20 » 9 a.m., Las Vegas, Southern Nevada Water Authority Board meeting, Molasky Corporate Center Suite 700, 100 City Parkway.

To see the proposal: www.waterrights.utah.gov