Water board receives pump-disaster details

Friday, March 21, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Without discussion, the Southern Nevada Water Authority Board accepted a report on the emergency disruption of water delivery to the Las Vegas Valley.

The report, "Southern Nevada Water System Emergency Interruption," explains for the first time in detail the events surrounding the crash.

"The response was appropriate, timely and well thought out," said SNWA board member Arnie Adamsen at Thursday's meeting, praising SNWA General Manager Pat Mulroy and her staff for their response to the crisis.

Once alarms sounded about 4:30 a.m. Feb. 22, it took until 5:15 a.m. and a frantic call from the Las Vegas Valley Water District saying the Oakey reservoir was not receiving water before SNWA operators knew the old computer had locked up.

By 5:16 a.m. water had overflowed into the two pump stations at the Alfred Merritt Smith water treatment plant, but the operator was working on the computer system and did not realize up to 600 million gallons of water was pouring into the pumps.

At 5:47 a.m. the power went out at the treatment plant after the flood blew nearly 18 feet of transmission bars from the wall inside the oldest pump station.

Three minutes later contract electricians notified plant operators that an explosion had occurred near the lift station pumps.

Once a chlorine analyzer failed, the new computer shut down the plant about 6 a.m. Then emergency procedures began.

The $250,000 system crash caused water authority staff to ask the public to stop outdoor watering and reduce indoor use for the next two days, but sounding the alarm took time because the system failure occurred on a weekend, the report said.

By 1999, the system's expanded delivery system -- the so-called "second straw" from Lake Mead -- will need a new pumping station.

The board awarded a contested bid to M.M.C. Inc. for $17.1 million after second bidder, Sletten Construction of Nevada Inc., protested.

Attorney Bill Curran, representing Sletten, argued that Sletten and four other contractors followed the specific instructions in its $17.5 million bid. Sletten, Curran said, would provide reliability.

Another pump failure like the February crash would be "catastrophic" for SNWA, Curran said.

All the bids were $7 million under SNWA engineers' estimates, Curran noted.

But the board, on a 4-2 vote, agreed to award M.M.C. the contract.

SNWA Board Chairman Mary Kincaid and member Myrna Williams, both Clark County commissioners, voted against the bid award.

Williams said she was uncomfortable with the bidding process used by the water authority. She said it should be consistent for each contract award.