Letter: Make authority prove water safety

Monday, Nov. 23, 1998 | 11:47 a.m.

How many more times will we hear that our drinking water is still OK? I speak about the almost weekly disclosure about more contaminated water, such as the potential from the Rhodes Ranch project and the unexplainably high level of radiation in our treated water.

I would think by now the newspaper and the reporters would ask the Southern Nevada Water Authority to give proof beyond a question of a doubt every time it makes the statement, "Our water is safe." Aren't we asking for another disaster like the MGM fire before the days of building sprinklers?

With our contaminated water source, isn't it just a matter of time before a major valley-wide health disaster strikes and possibly kills people like the crypto incident? When that happens, won't it be over in Las Vegas? When the fat lady has sung, won't it be bye-bye tourists and no more retirees moving in?

Hasn't it occurred to anyone by now that the SNWA's second straw into Lake Mead -- a mere six miles from the Las Vegas Wash with all of the contamination of 81 square miles of the valley draining into the wash (about 500,000 acres) -- is an engineering mistake of the first order.

Isn't it time now to move our intake miles up Lake Mead to obtain the best quality of water in the lake, and not remain at the end of an 81-square-mile sewer draining into our water supply?

Ken Mahal, President, Nevada Seniors Coalition