U.S., rural Nevada town clash over 1905 irrigation canal
By SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Lawyers for the government and a rural Nevada town are arguing in federal court over Fernley’s lawsuit challenging government plans to renovate a 115-year-old earthen irrigation canal and eliminate leaking water residents long have used to fill their own domestic wells. Both sides appeared before a judge in Reno Wednesday where the court rejected Fernley’s bid last year to delay plans to line parts of the Truckee Canal with concrete to make it safer after it burst in 2008, flooding nearly 600 homes. The government says the renovations will help guard against another breach in the federal canal and reduce the loss of water that belongs to U.S. taxpayers.