For the past few years, a little-known company called Vidler Water Resources has been quietly pumping much of this water out through a buried pipeline, under the mountains -- and straight into the rapidly sprawling northern suburbs of Reno, some 30 miles (50 kilometers) away.
Diverting often-scarce water to cities is, in itself, nothing new in the West. But this pipeline is unusual because it was fully constructed and paid for by a private company.
Such projects could help solve water-shortage issues as development expands rapidly in the desert, but they raise serious concerns for the area's aquifers – and with high building costs, the path forward will depend on whether the strategy ultimately proves profitable.
https://www.rfi.fr/en/business-and-tech/20230719-private-firms-scour-booming-nevada-desert-for-water-profits