Power blackouts could stop flow of water in valley

Monday, April 15, 2002 | 10:58 a.m.

Power blackouts this summer could leave faucets and fire hydrants with little or no water pressure, officials with the Las Vegas Valley Water District warned last week.

The warning was the latest salvo in a bitter clash between two utilities essential to life in Southern Nevada: power and water. Public water agencies have opposed power rate increases that would drive up the cost of providing water service to 800,000 people in the Las Vegas Valley.

Nevada Power, the electricity provider for the same area, last week warned that blackouts could occur if it is forced to file for bankruptcy protection.

On Sunday Nevada Power issued a "yellow alert," meaning there was a concern that there was not enough of a supply to meet the load, creating the possibility of what Nevada power calls "load-shutting," which is more commonly known as rolling blackouts.

Andrea Smith, spokeswoman for the power company, said issuing a yellow alert put the utility at the top of the list to purchase additional power from other suppliers. A red alert, the highest level of priority, means there is not enough power even if additional supply is purchased.

There were some minor outages caused by the wind Sunday night, Smith said.

Power company officials said that the water system is not in danger, and that talk of a threat stems from the water agency's opposition to a $922 million rate increase request.

Nevada Power spokesman Paul Heagan said the water agency's opposition to the rate increase and questions on reliability are part of an orchestrated campaign to destroy the electric utility.

"Their motivations are not in the public interest," Heagan said. "It's pretty obvious that they're manufacturing a risk here which doesn't exist."

But if there is a threat to water supplies, it is the water agency's opposition to Nevada Power's rate request "that has put our community at risk. ... They have helped create the risk, if there is any risk at all," Heagan said.

Heagan said the water agency's motivation is to become an energy provider. "They have had an interest in getting more involved in this business for a long time," he said. "They are willing to put the valley in danger, or let people think they are in danger, to suit their own purposes."

The water district's companion agency, the Southern Nevada Water Authority, is buying into new generating plants in the region -- but so far only enough to power its own pumping systems.

A state law passed last year bars the public agencies from distributing electricity to the general public.

Water district spokesman Vince Alberta said his agency is not interested in destroying the power company. But he warned that blackouts could affect water customers.

"If we got into a long period of outages, it would have a dramatic impact on our capability to deliver water to the community," Alberta said. He defined a "long period" as an outage lasting more than a day.

"Reliable power is critical to reliable water delivery," agreed Richard Wimmer, water district deputy general manager.

The water district, which serves about 800,000 people in Las Vegas and Clark County, is the largest water distributor or purveyor in Nevada. The Southern Nevada Water Authority provides the wholesale water to the water district.

But the district is responsible for getting the water to the end users. Alberta said the water district gets 100 percent of its power from Nevada Power.

Nevada Power spokeswoman Andrea Smith said the number actually is closer to 50 percent, including power that the water authority buys from her company.

Water customers -- including water service to fire hydrants -- would never be in danger, Heagan said. The water company is considered a "critical customer," and thus would not feel the bite of any power interruptions.

Smith that the water agencies buy power and pump water to storage reservoirs during nighttime hours, when demand from other users is lower.

George Caan, executive director of the Colorado River Commission, said he is not sure the energy company understands the importance of reliable power to the water agencies. Caan's commission provides most of the power, through its own transmission network, to the water authority.

However, the distributors are vulnerable to any sustained power interruption, Caan said.

"If there's a power shortage ... it essentially cuts the water supply," he said.

Last summer proved that power demand can exceed supply. A rolling blackout affected about 10,000 customers in the Las Vegas area July 2. Although a few accidents were reported at darkened street intersections, most of those affected found the blackout more of an inconvenience than a serious threat.

Nevada Power officials said after the blackout that it would do more to alert authorities to an impending loss of power.

The relatively short duration of the July 2001 blackout -- about 45 minutes in any one area -- probably prevented any serious effect on the water pressure. Alberta said it would take several hours for a blackout to affect water pressure, but once it did, the effect could be serious and severe.

Officials from Nevada Power and parent company Sierra Pacific Resources have pleaded poverty as the result of the energy crisis that struck the West in 2000. Nevada Power, which relies on wholesale markets for about half of its electricity, wound up with high-priced energy contracts that threatened the utility's solvency.

The company sought $922 million from ratepayers for energy used last year. The state Public Utilities Commission on March 29 gave the company only $485 million, however.

Analysts said they believe Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific have enough cash flow to survive short-term but may run into problems providing electricity this summer during periods of peak demand. The utilities also have said that blackouts are possible if they are forced to file for bankruptcy.

Nevada consumer advocate Tim Hay said that if Las Vegas loses power this summer, it would not be because of the cut in the rate increase.

"We don't believe that a responsible company would be making threats like that and we don't believe there is a factual basis for those threats," Hay said. "Functionally, what they appear to be doing is holding the Southern Nevada economy hostage."

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