Farming in Callao

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Snake Valley budget - enough?

While several news stories have covered Governor Huntsman's proposed budget, it took a little digging to find anything about Snake Valley. In a PDF file detailing the Natural Resources budget, was this on page 119:

Expand monitoring of water resources
• Continue Division of Water Rights groundwater studies, concentrating on Utah and Nevada border water issues with $355,000 supplemental General Fund

Previously officials in the DNR had proposed a series of 13 monitor / test wells costing about $1 million. DNR chief Mike Styler had urged the Interim Committee on Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment to authorize that much for the project.

While we are grateful for the governor's support in so many ways, as well as that of the Legislature, this does not seem like enough money to ensure we get adequate baseline data prior to pumping. It certainly seems insufficient to study aquifer characteristics if SNWA's massive water exportation proposal were ever to begin taking water from the basin.

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