WATER DUTY (NEVADA)

The Alpine Decree and Orr Ditch Decree provide the basis for virtually all irrigation water duties relating to water diversions from the Truckee, Carson, and Walker rivers in Northern Nevada. These decrees provide for an annual maximum irrigation duty of 4.5 acre-feet per acre for water-righted Bench Lands and 3.5 acre-feet per acre for water-righted Bottom Lands delivered to farm headgates. These duties are based on the Crop Water Requirement on the irrigation of alfalfa, as it is the most prominent crop and the highest water-using crop grown in the Newlands (Irrigation) Project in west-central Nevada. However, neither decree identifies lands as to bottom or bench. This has created considerable controversy, particularly within the Newlands Project, which constitutes a principal water user of both Carson River waters and Truckee River (diverted) waters. Also see Alpine Decree (California and Nevada), Orr Ditch Decree (Nevada and California), Bench Lands (Nevada), and Bottom Lands (Nevada).