Comments sought on ‘third straw’ intake

Thursday, June 2, 2005 | 9:21 a.m.

The National Park Service is asking for comments on a recent proposal from the Southern Nevada Water Authority to build the $650 million "third straw" to bring more water from Lake Mead.

The Water Authority hopes to have the new water intake operating by 2011. The proposal comes as the agency fears that a return to drought conditions along the Colorado River basin could cause water levels in Lake Mead to drop precipitously.

Water authority officials believe that falling lake levels due to demand and drought threaten both the water quality and access to lake water.

The lake level has already dropped from 1,210 feet above sea level to 1,130 feet between 1999 and 2004. The existing intakes are at 1,050 feet and 1,000 feet. The third intake could be 150 feet or more lower than the second intake, completed just three years ago, and 200 feet deeper than the oldest intake closest to the lake surface.

The Park Service, which operates the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, is the lead federal agency with responsibility for issuing an environmental assessment on the effects of a third intake. By law, the federal government must evaluate several alternatives to construction of the third intake, including the option of not building the new intake.

The Park Service is inviting written comments on the new intake plan until July 1.

J.C. Davis, a Water Authority spokesman, said the Park Service may also schedule public meetings on the proposed third intake.

"My understanding is that they are going to have some sort of public meetings," he said. "That's normally the case."

Written comments should be sent to: Superintendent, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Attention: Compliance Office, 601 Nevada Way, Boulder City, Nevada 89005.