Nevada fight over leaky irrigation canal and groundwater more complicated than appears on surface

By SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal appeals court has breathed new life into a rural Nevada town’s unusual bid to halt government repairs to an aging irrigation canal that burst and flooded more than 500 homes in 2008. The town of Fernley and area farmers and ranchers say the renovation that began this year would eliminate leaking water they have used for a century to help fill their wells east of Reno. The government says locals don’t have any rights to the water that belongs to U.S. taxpayers. A federal appeals court recently ordered a lower court to reconsider the case.