Print View From: Michelle Hofmann To: Date: Wednesday - September 30, 2009 8:16 PM Subject: Utah Moms for Clean Air Public Comments Snake Valley Water Agreement September 30, 2009 Utah Moms for Clean Air hereby submits its comments and objections to the proposed Agreement for Management of the Snake Valley Groundwater System. We submit that the agreement in its current form is insufficient to protect the health of Utahns and should be rejected. Prior to any agreement, the State of Utah should undertake comprehensive studies of the potential impacts of export pumping on the ecological systems of Snake Valley, to determine the extent that any such draw would result in the drying of surface water of the Snake Valley, and forecast the resulting loss of vegetation and increase in airborne dust. The State’s experts should determine, as accurately as possible, the potential for an adverse effect on Utah’s air quality and human health. If such studies conclude an export of water from the Snake Valley is reasonably expected to diminish Utah’s air quality, the State of Utah should reject an agreement. If the studies conclude that some water may be safely extracted from the Snake Valley without adversely affecting Utah’s air quality, only then should the State of Utah negotiate an agreement with the State of Nevada. Any agreement must contain stringent monitoring requirements and require that groundwater extraction will cease if adverse effects occur. The agreement must also provide for adequate security from the State of Nevada to provide for remediation of any adverse effects. The lack of conservation mandates is of significant concern. Las Vegas consumes significantly more water per capita than other dry southwestern cities. Allowing Las Vegas to satisfy its water needs from dry rural areas hundreds of miles away simply encourages unsustainable growth that will lead to more water needs. Any agreement should require that Las Vegas more aggressively implement water conservation measures. 1. The Agreement is Premature, and Is Based on Unreliable and Incomplete Data Section 301(e)(3) of the Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act of 2004, Pub. Law 108-424, provides: Prior to any transbasin diversion from ground-water basins located within both the State of Nevada and the State of Utah, the State of Nevada and the State of Utah shall reach an agreement regarding the division of water resources of those interstate ground-water flow system(s) from which water will be diverted and used by the project. The agreement shall allow for the maximum sustainable beneficial use of the water resources and protect existing water rights. The State of Utah is not required to enter into an agreement with Nevada at this time, or at any specific time for the division of Snake Valley water. Rather, no water may be pumped by Nevada prior to an agreement. As no time is required for an agreement, and indeed, the proposed Agreement delays until 2019 the time the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) may apply to draw water from the Snake Valley, the State of Utah should delay any agreement in order to spend the time necessary to comprehensively study the issue, and enter into an agreement only if it protects Utah’s interests. The states acknowledge there is incomplete information to determine the available groundwater supply in Snake Valley (Section 2.4), yet the proposed Agreement assumes the availability of 132,000 acre-feet per year and divides it between Utah and Nevada. (Sections 3.0, 4.2). The 132,000 AFY is derived from the BARCASS Study estimate of Snake Valley water discharge, which number is higher than any previous estimate. Numerous other studies estimate the discharge at 105-110,000 AFY. The high BARCASS number is subject to a confidence level of only 67%. Thus, the 132,000 AFY estimate of water availability in BARCASS is likely greatly overestimated. Utah should not accept this inflated number as a baseline for an agreement. Further, BARCASS states that the recharge to the Snake Valley was only 110,000 AFY during this period. This appears to indicate the water table is already dropping, a situation that must be studied further prior to any agreement, and which would be exacerbated by any export pumping. The U.S. Geological Survey has cast doubt on a method of calculating available water by simply specifying that ground-water withdrawal should not exceed the rate of natural recharge. This “Water-Budget Myth” is an “oversimplification of the information that is needed to understand the effects of developing a ground-water system. As human activities change the system, the components of the water budget (inflows, outflows, and changes in storage) also will change and must be accounted for in any management decision.” Therefore “a predevelopment water budget by itself is of limited value in determining the amount of ground water that can be withdrawn on a sustained basis.” U.S. Geological Survey, Sustainability of Ground- Water Resources, Circular 1186. According to the U.S. Geological Survey analysis, assuming available water even at the lower figure of 110,000 AFY may be lead to unsustainable results. Assuming that 132,000 AFY are available is simply unreasonable. The possibilities of droughts and climate change must also be considered in formulating long-term groundwater management plans. A collection of 19 climate models predict that the southwestern United States will dry significantly in the 21st Century, a transition that may already be under way. Seager, R. et al., 2007, Model Projections of an Imminent Transition to a More Arid Climate in Southwestern North America, Science, Vol. 316. no. 5828, pp. 1181 – 1184, May 2007. The forecasts show less precipitation and higher temperatures that will stress the already dry southwest. Such drought and climate change may be evidenced by the fact that water levels in the Snake Valley already appear to be declining, as demonstrated by BARCASS’ estimates that 132,000 AFY is discharged from Snake Valley while only 110,000 AFY was recharged in the same period. The proposed Agreement also fails to account for a double counting of water resources. BARCASS indicates 49,000 AFY flows from Spring Valley in Nevada to the Snake Valley. The Nevada State Engineer has authorized SNWA to pump 40,000 AFY from the Spring Valley, which amount will be increased after ten years to 60,000 AFY. That pumping will necessarily affect the water flowing into Snake Valley, and will likely decrease the available discharge from Snake Valley. 2. The Agreement Would Allow Unsustainable Groundwater Drawdowns that May Severely Affect Utah’s Air Quality. The groundwater table in the Snake Valley and adjacent basins is close to the land surface throughout much of the area, and surfaces through springs, seeps, and wetlands. The water table supports soil-binding vegetation throughout the region. The current use of groundwater by farmers and ranchers in the Snake Valley basin results in discharge within the basin, thus supporting recharge of the groundwater system. Even so, local use of the Snake Valley water resources by farmers and ranchers has dried some riparian areas and springs. Residents have reported that the water table has receded in recent years, and some residents of Snake Valley have had to drill new wells. (See statements of C. Garland, Callao, UT; G. Nielson, Delta, UT; A. Roper, Delta, UT.) The proposed Agreement would allow groundwater pumping on a vast scale, for export outside the Snake Valley basin, hundreds of miles to Las Vegas. This export of Snake Valley water would upset the recharge to the groundwater system and will result in a one-for-one loss of water available for recharge. If export pumping from a water system continually exceeds water capture, water levels will never stabilize and the system will continue to be depleted. Bredehoeft, J. and Durbin, T. 2009, Ground Water Development—The Time to Full Capture, Ground Water, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 469-610, July-Aug. 2009. As a result, there would be a gradual significant drawdown of the groundwater table, causing the loss of desert vegetation that binds the soil. The proposed Agreement acknowledges and apparently accepts this result: Groundwater appropriation in Utah “results in a reasonable amount of drawdown in the Groundwater aquifer. Such appropriations necessarily impact the existing hydrologic system and captures discharge available to phreatophytes, streams and natural lakes.” (Section 2.8). “The majority of Groundwater appropriation within Nevada throughout the state’s history has been premised upon the capture of Groundwater naturally discharged as phreatophytic evapotranspiration.” (Section 2.9). When the Snake Valley surface water dries up and the soil-binding vegetation dies, the resulting ecological damage could take hundreds or thousands of years to reverse. A “decline in groundwater levels could produce lasting and irreversible effects on both the agriculture and native vegetation of the Snake Valley. If the basin-fill aquifer is substantially dewatered, ground subsidience, cracking, and permanent degradation of its hydraulic properties may occur.” Utah Geological Survey Investigation 254, March 2005. The loss of soil-binding vegetation will leave billions of tons of soil particles that will be available for airborne distribution. (R. Davis, P.G.). The dust will travel with the wind and air patterns to the populated areas of Snake Valley, and then to the heavily populated Wasatch Front. Such a result poses an unacceptable risk to the health of Utahns. According to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality: “Fugitive dust is simply dust that is stirred up, creating an air quality problem. It is made up of fine particles called particulate matter, or PM. Because it irritates eyes and nasal tissue and seriously impacts the respiratory system, PM is a health concern. It also inhibits normal plant growth and development.” http://www.airquality.utah.gov/Permits/dust/index.htm The health effects of particulate matter pollution are well- documented. Particle pollution contains microscopic solids or liquid droplets that are so small they can get deep into the lungs and cause serious health problems. Numerous scientific studies have linked particle pollution exposure to respiratory illness, decreased lung function, asthma, development of chronic bronchitis, irregular heartbeat, heart attacks, and premature death in people with heart or lung disease. While all individuals may experience temporary symptoms from exposure to elevated levels of particle pollution, vulnerable populations including children, older adults, and people with heart or lung diseases are the most susceptible to health effects from particle pollution exposure. The impact of air pollution on children’s health is of grave concern to Utah Moms for Clean Air. Children do not choose to live in polluted areas, and it should be the State of Utah’s utmost priority to provide a clean and healthy environment for our children to grow and thrive. Studies have linked heightened PM pollution to not only increased respiratory ailments and disease in children, but also to increased infant mortality, miscarriage, lower IQs, and permanently diminished lung capacity. State monitoring data demonstrates that the 24-hr standard for PM2.5 under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) is routinely violated across much of the State’s monitoring network. The EPA has designated as nonattainment virtually the entire Wasatch Front urban corridor stretching from the Utah-Idaho border to central Utah. These counties contain 85% of Utah’s population, or more than 2.3 million people. The State of Utah has embarked on an effort to achieve attainment of the NAAQS for PM2.5. Allowing a dewatered Snake Valley to become a potential significant source of airborne dust in the Wasatch Front could nullify Utah’s efforts to clean up our air and subject Utahns to further harmful health effects of air pollution. Despite this risk the State of Utah has not studied the anticipated drying up of the Snake Valley, the potential resulting dust, or the impact the dust may have on Utah’s air quality and human health. It is now accepted medical science that there is no safe level of PM pollution. Therefore any increase in dust pollution will affect the health of Utahns and is an unacceptable result. Although the financial impacts of air pollution on the State are secondary to the human health impacts, it should be noted that air pollution is costly financially. Utah is spending significant sums to bring our air quality into compliance in terms of state monitoring and enforcement, and there costs incurred by industry and individuals in the form of pollution controls. The State and its population spend vast sums on health care costs associated with respiratory illness, and businesses lose productivity through lost worker days. Failing to achieve NAAQS attainment after the remediation period would result in the loss of hundreds of millions of federal transportation dollars. Tourism and business investment in our state is adversely affected by air pollution. There are significant potential losses to the ski industry, as increased dust would have a detrimental impact on the snow pack. Furthermore, the proposed Agreement fails to account for the hazardous materials known to be present in the West Desert soil. The Snake Valley (and much of Utah) is within the radioactive veil from above- ground nuclear bomb testing in Nevada from the 1950s through the early 1990s. The soil contains radioactive elements including plutonium, uranium, cesium and strontium. Minute quantities of these radioactive elements can cause chromosomal damage and cancer. The soil also contains mercury, which is emitted by coal-fired power plants, and by gold mines, several of which are located in Nevada. Exposure to even very small quantities of mercury causes neurological and brain damage. There are examples of water diversion creating drying conditions and significant air pollution. In Central Asia, a massive irrigation scheme of the Aral Sea source waters caused the sea to dry up over the past 40 years, so that it is only 10% of its original size. The remaining concentrated salts and industrial waste residues have created a toxic dust that is blown for hundreds of miles throughout the Aral Sea region. Populations in nearby countries have experienced increased respiratory disease, cancers, and infant mortality. The loss of the seabed and the resulting pollution has also resulted in the elimination of ecosystems, the extinction of fish and wildlife, and widespread economic hardship and unemployment. The World Bank alone has spent at least $470 million on remediation projects, and governments and international organizations are spending additional millions on the problem. Similarly, in the United States in the early twentieth century, California diverted water from the Owens Valley in southeastern part of the state to satisfy Los Angeles’ water needs. The resulting desiccation of the Owens water systems has created the single largest source of PM-10 dust in the United States, and what EPA has designated as the worst air quality in the nation. Dust from the dry lake bed is a significant health hazard to residents of Owens Valley and nearby areas. To date Los Angeles has spent more than $60 million to restore the Owens Valley water systems and more than $500 million to remediate the air quality of Owens Valley.[1] Decades after these systems were desiccated, governments are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to remediate the damage, yet such efforts fail to undo the damage already done to human health. 3. The Agreement Fails to Protect Utah Against Adverse Effects of Pumping. The proposed Agreement fails to provide that in the event of a serious consequence to the State of Utah, the groundwater pumping will stop. This is the most obvious and effective of mitigative measures, and must be included in any agreement. Any increase in particulate matter pollution should require a cessation of pumping. Furthermore, because there is a lag time between water table drawdown, the compromise and die-off of vegetation, and the release of dust, an agreement must provide for mitigative measures upon evidence that the water table is retreating such that vegetation will be compromised. The proposed Agreement provides that SNWA shall establish a mitigation fund in the amount of $3 million. That amount is wholly insufficient to mitigate adverse consequences from a large scale pumping operation which itself is expected to cost several billion dollars. As stated above, the remediation of Owens Valley and its airshed has cost more than $600 million to date. In summary, Utah Moms for Clean Air requests that the State of Utah reject the proposed Agreement for Management of the Snake Valley Groundwater System. The agreement wholly fails to protect the health of Utahns. There is no requirement that Utah enter into an agreement with Nevada, at this or any specific time. Thus, there is ample time for studies of the Snake Valley water system and the impact that water exports will have. An agreement should only be negotiated with the State of Nevada after comprehensive study of the expected impacts on Snake Valley ecosystems and the potential impacts on dust, air pollution, and Utah’s air quality. Any agreement must require Las Vegas to aggressively reduce its water consumption to reduce its water demand on other ecosystems. Thank you for considering these comments. Sincerely, Michelle Hofmann, MD, MPH Cameron Cova Co-Presidents, Utah Moms for Clean Air [1] Timothy Durbin, former U.S. Geological Survey hydrogeologist, and former SNWA consultant, has stated “The Owens Valley is a model of what to expect.” Las Vegas Sun, Quenching Las Vegas’ Thirst: Part 5, June 29, 2008 (referring to SNWA’s applications to export water from the Spring Valley, adjacent to Snake Valley).