The Central Nevada Regional Water Authority (CNRWA) and Humboldt River Basin Water Authority (HRBWA) were recently granted $15 million to purchase and retire groundwater rights from willing sellers. 

Applications are now open for willing sellers to apply to voluntarily retire their water rights in these basins.

The program, the Nevada Water Conservation and Infrastructure Initiative, is meant to purchase and permanently retire groundwater rights from willing sellers in groundwater basins with insufficient water supply to serve all water rights and domestic wells. 

Funding is to be used for over-appropriated and over-pumped groundwater basins in the Central Hydrographic Region and Humboldt River Basin. 

Applications for the Humboldt River Basin are available here: https://hrbwa.com/grrp/

Applications for the  Central Nevada Hydrographic Region are available here: https://cnrwa.com/grrp/

Applications are also available in most member county administrative offices.

The deadline to apply is January 22, 2024. 

A list of over-pumped and over-appropriated basins is online here: https://cnrwa.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Over-pumped-and-over-aproppriated-groundwater-basisns-11_22_23.pdf

Over-pumped basins are allocated $900 per acre-foot, and over-appropriated basins that are not over-pumped are valued at $350 per acre-foot. Water rights in the Diamond Valley Basin are valued at $800 per acre-foot. 

“The program addresses and avoids conflicts with existing rights or detriments to the public interest and natural resources,” said Jeff Fontaine, the Initiative’s director. “Retiring groundwater rights will help stabilize groundwater levels.”

Funding priorities are for retiring irrigation rights in over-pumped basins subject to curtailment. Purchasing groundwater rights in other over-appropriated basins will also be considered if such purchases mitigate conflicts with existing rights or if there are detriments to natural resources.

Groundwater right holders in the portions of the Humboldt River Basin and Central Hydrographic Region located in CNRWA and HRBWA member counties are eligible to apply. Those counties include Churchill, Elko, Esmeralda, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Nye, Pershing and White Pine.

“We encourage those interested in retiring their water rights in these basins to apply sooner rather than later, as it is expected that available funds will exceed the program’s demand,” Fontaine added.

Additional information is available online: https://cnrwa.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Water-Rights-Retirement-Program-FAQ-final11_14_23.pdf