Detail of engineering map created to accompany application to Washoe County for water use
During the summer of 2013, the Church received a permit from the state of Nevada to drill a well for the future home of Reverend Robert Roy and family in the Southlands of Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary. In the process of doing this, issues arose with the state and its contracts for water rights with the Church, forcing Bishop Gene Savoy Jr. to ask for a conference meeting with state officials in Carson City, which was granted. During the meeting, Bishop Savoy was not only able to get the permit for the Roys’ well but expanded water rights for the Sanctuary as a whole. The benefits of the new rights were explained by Bishop Savoy.
“So how this new water arrangement with the state of Nevada works to our benefit is that on a certain defined area of the Sanctuary we cannot drill domestic wells. Now, what does that mean? A “domestic well” means that you can have a well for a home and you can pump up to 1800 gallons of water a day, which is 657,000 gallons per year. Now, if you multiply that by the 25 lots making up the Sanctuary property, that’s in addition to the 17.144 million gallons of permitted rights. So what the state determined—or what we determined with the state—is that these certain defined areas, the three lots that are basically quasi-municipal, that we would have to use our 17.144 million gallons on these three lots. We can drill wells on every single one of these other lots [the remaining of the 25], and what we did was, we had included in the past the Northland in this, the quasi-municipal, which meant we had to split our water [the 17.144 million gallons] between the Southland and the Northland.
“So they agreed to remove the Northland off of that, which means our 17 million can now be dedicated specifically to the Southland; that we can drill a domestic well on every lot to the North, whenever we get to those projects, which increases our total output. And the most important thing about that is, because we built our pipeline, [ as far as the state is concerned], the project is now completed and we can actually file for proof of beneficial use, which means that we are proving to the state that we have the capacity to use that 17 million gallons. And they have told us that they will certificate our water rights—so we’re not operating under a permit, we’re operating under a certificate, which means that the water is ours. And that’s what we’ve been working towards these last five years.”
Thus, the rights belong to the Church and cannot be removed. Bishop Savoy continued: “So Robert’s well will be operating off the 17 million gallons; however, the thing that is very important is . . . the Argonaut well. We were pumping all that 17 million gallons of water solely from that well. What the state agreed to now, was that we can drill as many wells as we want, and combine the usage. So we can pump 10 million gallons out of that well [say,] or 5 million gallons out of that well, and it doesn’t have to come out of one specific well. . . . So we can actually, in due time, have our own water system, with multiple wells that we can tie into. So this was really a great accomplishment.”
So what this means is that the Church now is considered a municipal system and can, instead of piping water from way over down the hill from the Argonaut Well only, other wells can be drilled elsewhere .
Bishop Savoy continued, “For example, with Robert’s well, we don’t have to tie that well into the other water system that we just built. You can pump out of there as much as we need. And we can pump out of here as much as we need. But, in the future, if we want to tie all those wells together in a water system, we can do that also. And the Northland is exempted, meaning that we can do what we need in the Southland and use the 17 million gallons there, and when we are able to do something in the Northland, then we can, but they’re not expecting us to do anything there anytime soon, which was one of their previous requirements.”
So that gives the Church much more freedom in the future once it receives the certificate. This was an unexpected result of the meeting on getting a permit for the Roys’ well. Bishop Savoy relates some of how that meeting went:
“It started, really, with us going to Matt Hansen, who is an architect . . . that was February of 2013. That’s when we started the project. He advised us on a few things. The residential portion of the project we haven’t really fleshed out yet. The main thing is getting the water, and in getting the water you have to apply to the county, and you have to apply to the state of Nevada, for permits. And the county was very ready to give us their permit, and then we had this hiccup with the state, and we figured out this bigger picture.
“When I met with the state and our water consultant, Mike Bushelman, they [the state] kept bringing more people into the room because they were saying, “Well, we can’t let you drill a well. We can’t do this.” And we basically told them that that’s not going to work for us, so we need to figure this out. So about eight or ten of us got together, and in a matter of three hours we had verbal agreements, and I know that the state will uphold those. They . . . kept pulling more people in [to the discussion] and said, ‘OK, how do we nail this thing down?’ And they realize that we’ve done a very good job. We’ve always filed our reports, and we submit our pumping records, and we’ve spent money, and they recognize that, that we’re not sitting on this waiting for some golden opportunity to sell water rights, or something like that.
“So we ended up with a whole new plan for the entire Sanctuary. . . . Instead of pumping our total allotment of 17 million gallons from the Argonaut well, at this point we can split it any way we want, so long as we don’t exceed the 17 million.”
Another benefit that came out of the meeting was that the Church no longer needs to develop a water system at the North Sanctuary in the near future as it was supposed to do under the previous arrangement. This gives the Church some breathing room to gather the resources needed to do that development since there is not yet any infrastructure to support a well there at this time. Bishop Savoy commented on this. “So it’s good that we don’t have to worry about that anytime soon. And we’ll still be able to secure the 17 million gallons so that it can’t be taken away . . . as long as you’re not misusing it. Every five years we do have to prove that we’re using it. Remember, the state does not own the water rights. People don’t often realize that. The state of Nevada, by the Constitution of our state, cannot own the water rights. They’re just managers of the public’s property, basically. So, if you’re using it, then it’s yours. If you’re not, then the state has the right to say, ‘Well, we are the driest country in the nation so maybe we need to allocate those rights to somebody else.'”
So the Church has better secured its rights to the abundant waters in the Sanctuary’s aquifers for the future and broadened its ability to tap that water with multiple wells in addition to being granted a continuance on developing the water system in the North Sanctuary until much later without risk of losing its rights to that water. As the bishop noted, that is what can happen when you work together face to face with people rather than simply use typical, impersonal bureaucratic channels.
