Private well owners to question CalWater on Pahrump water issues
Private well owners will meet CalWater on July 1 as the company moves to buy Great Basin Water, raising questions about rates, supply and basin-wide water planning.
On Wednesday, July 1, the Private Well Owners Association holds its monthly meeting at 10 a.m. at the Pahrump Valley Museum, 401 E. Basin Ave. The session is free and open to the public, and the guest speaker will be a representative from the company buying Great Basin Water Company, also known as Nexus Water Group.
On February 25, California Water Service Group reached an agreement to buy Nexus Water Group’s Nevada and Oregon water and wastewater systems for about $218 million, subject to closing adjustments and regulatory approvals. CalWater said the deal would add about 36,000 equivalent residential connections and a combined rate base of roughly $109 million as of December 31, 2025. CalWater agreed to offer jobs to about 56 Nexus employees who operate those systems, and the transaction is expected to close by the end of 2026.
Nye County planning documents describe Pahrump Basin as one of the most over-appropriated basins in Nevada and the basin with the highest density of domestic wells in the state. The 2018 Pahrump Basin 162 Groundwater Management Plan says the basin’s published perennial yield is 20,000 acre-feet and estimates that amount could support about 80,000 people using a planning standard of 198 gallons per person per day. The same county plan says deeded lands in Pahrump could support a population of 495,000.
A February 2026 Pahrump Valley Times article put Pahrump Valley at more than 11,000 domestic wells and septic systems. Basin No. 162 is the only source of water for the entire Pahrump Valley. The Private Well Owners Association was founded in Nevada on October 18, 2020, and its mission is to help domestic well owners understand well and septic systems, water conservation in Basin 162, and the rural lifestyle of the valley. Membership costs $40 a year and includes annual well-water testing, monthly educational classes, handouts and a binder of well-owner information.
Nye County and the Nevada Division of Water Resources formed a Basin 162 Groundwater Management Plan advisory committee in January 2014 to address over-appropriation, and a 2023 Nye County Water District proposal said the district, the association and the three water utilities in the Pahrump Basin would use improved groundwater modeling to identify and carry out water-resource management strategies.
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