Laws and Legislation
It takes thousands of years for the snowmelt and rain in the nearby Spring Mountains to seep deep beneath the earth's layers and flow into our valley's groundwater basin. With the growth in Southern Nevada, we've been using more groundwater each year than nature can replenish. In the mid-1990s, the time had come to protect this valuable water resource.

After the 1995 Nevada Legislature requested public input on the groundwater situation in the Las Vegas Valley, a citizen's committee was formed and began meeting to discuss issues of concern to groundwater users.

The committee, which was comprised of well users and concerned citizens who depended upon groundwater, drafted the legislation. The legislation was introduced as Assembly Bill 436 at the 1997 Nevada Legislature.

Following several public hearings, both houses of the Nevada Legislature passed the bill and the Governor signed it into law on July 16, 1997.

Other groundwater legislation
The law directed the Southern Nevada Water Authority to implement and manage a Las Vegas Valley Groundwater Management Program. It also established a nine-member Advisory Committee for Groundwater Management to provide input to the Water Authority on potential groundwater activities.

Between 1997 and 1999, the program conducted several technical activities, including a major inventory of the wells in the Las Vegas Valley. The advisory committee held four public workshops with well users and developed additional recommendations for the program. These recommendations were submitted in a report to the 1999 Nevada Legislature.

The report led directly and indirectly to the passage of four groundwater bills benefitting well users in the Las Vegas Valley: