A years-long fight over tapping rural water for city use is about to get a first-ever hearing before a federal judge in Las Vegas.
Environmental groups and Indian tribes are expected to frame today’s arguments as a city water grab supported by inadequate environmental studies about a planned 263-mile water pipeline along the Nevada-Utah state line.
They fear that arid valleys of scrub brush rangeland will turn to dust bowls if Las Vegas is allowed to tap ancient underground aquifers to serve thirsty tourists and city-dwellers.
Southern Nevada Water Authority lawyers say that the state's largest metropolitan area and the economic hub has to have water.
The pipeline could cost billions to build, but officials say it may become essential if drought keeps shrinking the Lake Mead reservoir on the Colorado River.