There is no water in the basin to support this project.

As currently slated, the project will draw an initial 5100 af of groundwater to fill its two reservoirs in an already over-allocated, over-used basin, with an additional 560 af drawn each year to make up for seepage, leakage, and evaporation losses. This would be new pumping in the heart of Steptoe Valley, next to major existing agricultural production and near both Ely and McGill 

Further hydrological studies are needed, but it’s estimated that filling the proposed reservoirs will cause 10 ft of drawdown in at least one aquifer and 10 ft of drawdown in potentially four others used for domestic and irrigation, depending on aquifer transmissivity. 

With the drilling of new aquifers, more than 1 million cubic feet of waste rock will be sitting on the side of the Duck Creek Range and so far, there has been no analysis on potential impacts to groundwater quality. 

The basin is already in a precarious state. Any new pumping in Steptoe Valley should be reserved for future residents of White Pine County over out-of-state development interests.