Owning water a pipeline to profit

A pipeline to Carson City from Minden may be the solution to several water problems in the north county and the capital.

That doesn't mean we don't have concerns about at least one of the players.

That national water broker Vidler Water Co. is financing improvements through the purchase of Minden water rights is a concern. Those improvements would provide the water that will flow in a pipeline between the Douglas County seat and the capital.

Vidler financed construction of a connection between Carson City and Lyon County.

According to its Web site, Vidler's primary strategy "is to locate, aggregate, develop and convert water rights from highly fragmented agricultural markets to emerging municipal and industrial uses."

Connecting Minden's water rights to Dayton Valley is a classic chess move for Vidler, which will allow them to provide water to new growth in Lyon County.

The once large number of independent Carson Valley water systems served as a bulwark against the exploitation of the county's groundwater resources.

Indian Hills' arsenic problem has provided a key to exploiting those water resources.

The Vidler Web site is clear as to the company's intention to "expand its operations in order to become a leading private water resource asset company in the western United States."

They are looking to a future where drinking water will replace oil and gold as a valuable commodity.