Comment on Big Vegas pipeline pumping plan rejected

LAS VEGAS — Long-fought plans for Las Vegas to pump and pipe drinking water from arid valleys just west of the Utah state line were dealt a severe blow Friday with a ruling from Nevada’s top state water official. State Engineer Jason King denied groundwater rights to the Las Vegas-based Southern Nevada Water Authority in vast rural tracts in Lincoln and White Pine counties, even though applications had been approved three times since 2007. However, King also said he’ll appeal a state judge’s order that forced him to hold do-over hearings last year that put him in a position “to upend the historical application of Nevada water law and water rights.” The water authority also promised an appeal with a statement lamenting the “difficulty” King faced complying with what it called District Court Judge Robert Estes’s “contradictory” instructions. “Southern Nevada, which is home to 73 percent of the population in the state, uses less than 5 percent of the state’s total available water supply,” the statement said.