Water Rights
An applicant is required to dedicate to the Virgin Valley Water District, as a condition precedent to receiving a will-serve commitment or water service from the District:
- any surface or ground water rights reasonably necessary to insure and adequate water supply to the subject property or suitable compensation in an amount determined by the District so the District may independently obtain necessary water rights to ensure a future water supply; and
- any facilities for water treatment, supply, storage, transmission and distribution, treatment and disposal, and appurtenances (such as wells, pipelines, pumps and storage tanks) located within or olltside of the property which are reasonably necessary to insure an adequate water supply to the property;
- any easement or legal access reasonably necessary to insure an adequate water supply to the property.
The amount of required dedicated water rights is one acre foot annually for each equivalent dwelling unit established by the meter size.
The applicant also must submit an abstract or chain of title establishing ownership and the right must be legally available for beneficial use.
The applicant enters into an agreement with the District secured by a performance bond or other undertaking acceptable to the Board or its designee. The agreement must constitute a binding offer to dedicate or to pay substitute compensation, conditioned only upon final approval of the application for water service.
Dedication of actual water rights may be disproportionately burdensome, impracticable, or otherwise inconsistent with a water rights holder's long term plans, so payment of a fee may be substituted for dedication of actual water rights.
When an applicant elects to pay a fee in lieu of the dedication of actual water rights, the fee shall be the combined sum of the fair market value of the water right plus the cost of preparing and filing record of conveyance of ownership and applications to change the point of diversion, place of use and manner of use.
The complete details are available in the Dedication of Water Rights and Facilities Document Ordinance No. 2 and its Amendment (.pdf 312KB), which is part of the Operating Rules, Regulations and Rates document. It is excerpted here for your convenience.