Agricultural and recreational impacts from surface flow changes due to gold mining operations

Nevada ranks third in the world in gold production. In order to operate the massive open pit gold mines, the State of Nevada granted mining companies a temporary permit to pump groundwater from near the open pits and dispose of it. Certain instream flows have nearly doubled relative to average histo rical flows in recent years. Following pit closure, surface flows will like ly decline from historical levels. This study measures the impacts of these changing water supplies on downstream agricultural and recreational users. We argue that the creation of temporary changes in water rights for the do wnstream users would likely mitigate future losses both groups are expected to experience.