As the River Runs Dry: Ongoing Battle Between Urban, Rural Water Users

"BAKER, Nev. – Black sand gurgled like a mud volcano from the bottom of Clay Springs, pushed aside by crystalline water rising to the desert's surface.

Rancher Tom Baker stood in the marshy pasture beside one of the few oases that have kept his family ranching cattle across the Utah-Nevada line just downhill from Great Basin National Park. Cows romped and chewed in the green island surrounded by a sea of brittle brown greasewood.

Baker shook his head in disgust.

"To think you're going to take all the water out of the ground (to build) a few more blocks in Las Vegas," he said, practically spitting out his words."

Brandon Loomis and Mark Henle report for the Arizona Republic February 27, 2015.

SEE ALSO:

"As the River Runs Dry: the Southwest's Water Crisis" (Arizona Republic)