A lawsuit over a tiny, rare fish in the West’s parched region looms.

Two unique fish species are threatened by groundwater pumping in the West, which is experiencing a drought, and conservationists have informed U.S. wildlife authorities that they would sue over the government’s tardy decisions about their protection.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has received a formal notice of the Center for Biological Diversity’s intention to suit for the Fish Lake Valley tui chub along the California-Nevada border and the least chub in southwest Utah.

The anticipated lawsuits are only one of several fronts on which environmentalists are waging war against water districts and the customers they serve over plans to siphon water to either maintain or increase usage in Utah and Nevada, two of the driest states in the nation.

The conclusion of the legal battles will probably have a significant impact on the parched valleys of the states and the inhabitants, both human and animal.

According to the organization requesting federal listings under the Endangered Species Act, water allocations for conventional agricultural usage as well as plans for urban growth pose a threat to the high-desert springs where the minnows reside.

The Fish and Wildlife Service eventually decided in August that there was enough proof the tui chub in Nevada was in danger of becoming extinct, mostly because of excessive water use for farms and ranches, to call for a yearlong assessment to decide whether or not it should be classified.

Three months after the center requested the listing, in June 2021, the so-called 90-day finding was expected. The yearlong study should have been completed in March, the center also pointed out in its letter to the government dated November 15.

The catastrophic exploitation of groundwater in its natural habitat has led to the extinction of the Fish Lake Valley tui chub, according to Patrick Donnelly, head of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Great Basin division.

In an email sent on Wednesday to The Associated Press, Service spokesman Laury Marshall said that the organization doesn’t comment on legal matters. The first listing petition “presents sufficient scientific or commercial evidence suggesting that listing the Fish Lake Valley tui chub as an endangered or vulnerable species may be merited,” according to the August assessment made by agency officials, which was cited by AP.

The 5-inch-long, olive-colored tui chub is still only found in a basin in Esmeralda County, halfway between Reno and Las Vegas.

According to the listing petition, Lake Valley’s groundwater levels have dropped by up to 2.5 feet (76 centimeters) every year over the previous 50 years, resulting in a total depletion of more than 75 feet (23 meters) since 1973.

If developed, adjoining lithium claims and active geothermal leases, according to Donnelly, might potentially endanger the springs.

More than half of Utah’s surviving wild least chub populations are under danger due to groundwater pumping plans for Cedar City, which is located approximately 170 miles (270 kilometers) northeast of Las Vegas.

In September 2021, the organization submitted a petition to list the 2-inch-long, gold-colored minnow, alleging dangers presented by the Pine Valley Water Supply Project. According to the committee, an initial finding and 12-month evaluation for that species are likewise overdue.

Only seven natural populations of the least chub survive in Utah’s Bonneville Basin, where it was formerly extensively spread. There are also roughly a dozen refuge populations where it has been reintroduced.

The center said that this species was “quite near to extinction due to significant habitat loss and modification, competition with non-native species, and predation from these species.”

The Central Iron County Water Conservancy District in Utah wants to invest about $260 million to build about 70 miles (110 kilometers) of underground pipes to transport water from an aquifer beneath the Pine Valley, an undeveloped, rural area to the north of Cedar City, the district’s population center. They claim that in order to be prepared for the future, they must diversify their water source due to the local groundwater supply being limited and the inflow of new population.

A examination of groundwater analyses, according to District General Manager Paul Monroe, revealed that any effects on the springs would be “less than substantial.”

Neighboring Beaver County, Native American tribes, some ranchers, and Nevada counties have been fighting the project for decades out of concern that taking water out of Pine Valley may impact adjacent aquifers.

According to Krista Kemppinen, a senior biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity, “Endangered Species Act protection would guarantee that the Pine Valley water grab doesn’t put the existence of this small native Utah fish in jeopardy.”