Water bid delayed for power plant

Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2001 | 9:09 a.m.

The staff of the Las Vegas Valley Water District has delayed action on a request to share water rights with a power company.

The company, Duke Energy North America, is planning to build an air-cooled plant near Apex, about 15 miles north of Las Vegas.

Duke is seeking up to 700 acre-feet of water to supply the proposed power plant. It is requesting to partner with the water district in applying to the state for the water rights.

The water district has already applied for rights in the area, and the partnership would save the company the time and trouble of starting from scratch.

The water district's staff had placed the request on the Tuesday agenda for the district's board to approve. But the item was pulled.

Deputy General Manager Richard Wimmer said the staff wanted to double-check its calculations.

State Engineer Hugh Ricci said no hearings have been set on the water district's 12-year-old request for unallocated ground water rights in rural Nevada counties. Without water available, future power plant projects could not be built.

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