(Note: Nevada, already 91.3 percent federally controlled, is being fed to the casinos of Vegas and the land control barons, but because it's in "flyover country", the rest of America won't make a peep. After all, they'll say, what's an area the size of Delaware in a state the size of Nevada? It's a heckuva lot, that's what it is. Ranchers "out there" in flyover country still need water for their livestock and their families, but I can see the handwriting on the wall: water meters for all ranches and other "human habitation" are on the horizon. First in Nevada? Eventually: everywhere.)

U.S. Water News Online

Reno, Nevada - President Bush has signed into law a measure creating what conservationists say will be the largest piece of federally protected wilderness in Nevada -- an area about half the size of the state of Delaware.

The measure is seen as a compromise between environmentalists and developers who want to tap more water for the Las Vegas area. It creates 14 wilderness areas measuring a total of about 1,200 square miles, but also establishes a utility corridor that would allow authorities to build a pipeline to tap into groundwater in the region.

Officials want to eventually draw as much as 200,000 acre-feet of water per year -- enough for more than half a million households.

"It is a good compromise that ensures that our public lands will be used for the public good," said Senator Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Nevada's entire congressional delegation supported the measure.

J.C. Davis, spokesman for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said the new law is critical to the proposed pipeline, but that construction is still a long way off.

Officials will now begin analyzing the potential environmental impacts of the groundwater withdrawal.

The state water engineer also must rule on applications for groundwater and make sure it would not harm existing water rights, Davis said.

Mike Matz, executive director of the Campaign for America's Wilderness, said the new wilderness areas include habitats for the desert tortoise, bighorn sheep, golden eagles, goshawks elk and deer.

http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcsupply/4bushsign12.html