Water Resources of the Basin and Range Carbonate-Rock Aquifer System, White Pine County, Nevada, and Adjacent Areas in Nevada and Utah

Water demands from the lower Colorado River system are increasing with the rapidly growing population of the southwestern United States. To decrease dependence on this over allocated surface-water resource and to help provide for the projected increase in population and associated water supply in the Las Vegas area, water purveyors in southern Nevada have proposed to utilize the ground-water resources of rural basins in eastern and central Nevada. Municipal, land management, and regulatory agencies have expressed concerns about potential impacts from increased ground-water pumping on local and regional water quantity and quality, with particular concern on water-rights issues and on the future availability of water to support springflow and native vegetation. Before concerns on potential impacts to pumping can be addressed, municipal and regulatory agencies have recognized the need for additional information and improved understanding of geologic features and hydrologic processes that control the rate and direction of ground-water flow in eastern and central Nevada.