man000208 10

At a meeting of the Directors of the District an June 27, 1952 it was decided that the lands outlined in red on Plate H should he acquired. l M s area Includes 507 acres end the value placed thereon by the Union Pacific appraisers is $267,650. These appraised values include the value of the vater rights, according to Union Pacific officials. In our opinion the value is in the land and not in the water rights. In the water rate hearing in Lae Ye gas (see p. 200 of transcript of hearing, April 5, 1951) Mr. R. A. Vohe said, "You don’t have a water right if you go out and pump your water normally, but if you have a free-flowing water wherein a substantial saving is realized in the production of water as contrasted to bringing water over a pipeline or building a dam or pumping water, then the question arises whether there is a water right, and secondly, what value, if any, attaches to it." According to this line of reasoning the value of any water rights which may be attached to these lands is rapidly diminishing as the artesian pressure in the Las Vegas area Is steadily decreasing. It will probably be necessary, in the near future, to begin pumping all of the Vater Company wells to meet the constantly increasing for more water, at which time the value of the water rights will presumably have decreased to zero. It is also our opinion that the so-called water rights are dedicated to public use and as such belong to the public, not to the Vater Co. Vhen the public use for water is transferred to another agency the water rights should be included in the transfer. It is true that the Public Service Carnalsalon allowed a value of $30,000 for water rights in the Las Yegas Land and Vater Ccsapany rate base but the allowance was questioned by the Las Vegas City Attorney. -10-