Editorial: Money flows into place

Friday, Sept. 1, 2006 | 7:16 a.m.

Local governments have finally agreed on how to pay for a $750 million project that calls for sending treated wastewater into Lake Mead's depths while keeping it away from the intakes that funnel fresh water to the Las Vegas metropolitan area.

Members of the Clean Water Coalition, which represents Clark County, Las Vegas and Henderson, negotiated with business and residential developers to arrive at a fee that will raise money to pay for the mammoth water project. The fee will be assessed on new-house connections, starting at $400 right now and rising to $812 in July 2007.

The water plan calls for pumping treated wastewater into the lake 200 feet deep - keeping contaminated water away from fresh-water intakes, while maintaining the highest possible level of "return flow credits." Under a federal agreement, the Southern Nevada Water Authority is allowed to take one gallon of fresh water from Lake Mead for every gallon of treated wastewater it returns there.

Critics of the plan have called for using more recycled water upstream for such needs as irrigation. But that could result in fewer return flow credits. Eric Hawkins, spokesman for the Clean Water Coalition, said water officials have been weighing the options for about a decade and have determined the deep-water solution to be the best for the long term.

In addition to the pumping plan, Hawkins said, local water treatment plant officials are continuing to research new methods of treating wastewater and upgrading their processes so that water returned to the lake should be increasingly cleaner. Construction of the pumping project is to begin in two years, and pumping is to start in 2012.

This expensive process is necessary in order to continue supplying clean drinking water to the ever-growing Las Vegas Valley. We are glad to see that public officials and private entities have come to an agreement on how to pay for it.