The Diamond Valley Groundwater Management plan made its way to Nevada’s Supreme Court last week and was approved. The plan can be viewed here:

(Diamond Valley Groundwater Management Plan-311-page pdf)

The Lahontan Valley News reports that groundwater pumping is reduced for junior and senior water right holders alike.  Right holders with vested rights predating 1913 are exempt from the reduction.

According to the Lahontan Valley News,

The issue went to court because Diamond Valley, in Eureka County, is dramatically over-appropriated and has been pumped at a rate exceeding its annual recharge for more than four decades. The opinion authored by Justice Jim Hardesty says 76,000 acre-feet of water is pumped from the valley every year but the aquifer can only support 30,000 acre-feet of annual pumping. As a result, Diamond Valley has been designated a critical management area, which gives the state engineer the power to impose a management plan on users.

Image Source:

Wikimedia Commons. Historical marker for Diamond Valley along Nevada State Route 278 (Eureka-Carlin Road) in Eureka County, Nevada (Famartin, September 2014)

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