Environment:

Water demand drop-off postpones intake work

Pump station part of ‘third straw’ project not a pressing need

Tiffany Brown

Officials will continue to monitor Lake Mead’s water level and valley water use to determine when a third pumping station will be needed.

By Jean Reid Norman (contact)

Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009 | 2 a.m.

For Want of Water: Find video reports, interactive graphics and expanded coverage of Las Vegas' water shortage

Reduced demand for water has allowed the Southern Nevada Water Authority to scale back its third intake project at Lake Mead, reducing the cost by $296 million — for now anyway.

A pumping station to pull water through what is more commonly referred to as the water authority’s “third straw” has been put on hold because engineers think the pump on the second intake, the “second straw,” can do the job at current demand, water authority spokesman J.C. Davis said.

As a result, the $817 million project has become a $521 million one.

The big winner on this is Boulder City, because the town’s share of the bill is being cut almost in half — to $13.6 million instead of $26 million.

The third intake — basically a tunnel being bored under the lake to draw water from its depths — is necessary because water levels at Lake Mead have dropped so much that water officials fear the original intake, built in 1971, will stop working.

If the surface of the lake drops to 1,050 feet above sea level, the original intake will not be able to draw water, Davis said. On Friday, the top of the lake was at 1,096 feet above sea level.

The second intake by itself will not draw enough to get Las Vegas’ share of Colorado River water out of the lake, but the pump that draws water through the second intake can pull enough water through both intakes to meet current peak demands, Davis said.

A connecting tunnel is being built between the second and third intakes to make the pump more efficient.

Engineers took a fresh look at the whole project in light of Southern Nevada’s reduced use of Colorado River water from the lake and the drop-off in region’s population boom. Engineers “realized we could put off the third pumping station for a while,” Davis said.

That decision doesn’t mean that Las Vegas Valley residents will see any reduction in their water bills, though.

Henderson, North Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Valley Water District — the other members of the Southern Nevada Water Authority — have been paying their shares of the water authority’s capital construction costs since 1994 through connection fees of about $5,000 for each new house.

But Boulder City, which limits the number of new homes that can be built per year, opted out of the connection fee, so it is being billed directly for its share of the third straw project — and hasn’t figured out yet how to come up with the money.

Boulder City voters in 2007 turned down a proposed land sale to raise the money, and since then City Manager Vicki Mayes and other city staff members have been looking for spare dollars during a budget crisis.

They found some in a federal grant from the Environmental Protection Agency that will kick in $485,000. To get the money, the city had to work with the water authority to isolate a smaller part of the project. That part is a water quality system to keep unwanted organisms out of the connecting tunnel between the second and third intakes.

Boulder City will pay $397,000 of the $1.8 million cost of that portion, with the federal grant and water authority picking up the remainder, Mayes said.

City officials are still in negotiations with the water authority regarding a payment plan for the rest of the $13.6 million bill.

Boulder City and the valley may not get to relish the reduction in the project’s cost for very long.

Water authority engineers are keeping a close eye on both the lake level and water demand and doing the complicated calculations that will determine at what point the additional pump would have to be built.

Discussion: 12 comments so far…

By dipstick

9/13/09 at 6:11 a.m.

Suggest removal

does this mean the pipeline from northern nevada is no longer needed?
By perry161492

9/13/09 at 9:04 a.m.

Suggest removal

i wonder why because all these foreclose house not using water has some to do with it. we need to get rid of pat munroy.
By texexnv

9/13/09 at 9:43 a.m.

Suggest removal

William, why not ask the long-term Sen. Harry Reid about why in 30 years he hasn't taken ANY STEPS WHATSOEVER to get southern Nevada more water? DUHoh!

After all, he's always bragging about all the great stuff he does for Nevada, right?

What could be more important than water?

Oh, yeah...re-election. To do the same thing over and over and over x 30; and expect different results....
By BobbyG

9/13/09 at 10:02 a.m.

Suggest removal

Las Vegas, the next Anasazi ruin.
By Galfromvegas

9/13/09 at 12:13 p.m.

Suggest removal

texexnv: Get off the Reid bashing, johnny one note. It's not like he caused the drought!
By patrussell

9/13/09 at 12:30 p.m.

Suggest removal

The drawing in the article is incorrect. The design for intake No. 3 was changed from from a level of 850 feet above sea level, to the level of intake No. 2, which is at 1000 feet above sea level.

From the SNWA Website (http://www.snwa.com/html/system_cip_inta...), "Lake Mead Intake No. 3
This intake will both protect municipal water customers from water quality issues and reduced system capacity associated with declining lake levels. Intake No. 3 will maintain the SNWA's ability to draw upon Colorado River water at lake elevations as low as 1,000 feet above sea level, assuring system capacity if lake levels fell low enough to put Intake No. 1 out of service. Components include an intake tunnel, underground pumping forebay, pumping station, electrical power connections and a discharge pipeline to the Alfred Merritt Smith Water Treatment Facility. This project is scheduled for completion in 2013."

Also, although Intake No. 1 was lowered to an elevation of 1000 feet above sea level - the pumps for Intake No. 1 will cease to operate at an elevation of 1050 feet above sea level.
By wizardofOz

9/13/09 at 2:02 p.m.

Suggest removal

Oh-my-good-ness. Are we talking about water, again? Why?

We need to forget that, to semi-paraphrase Pat Mulroy, we kinda handed out water permits like candy to whatever, or whomever, asked for them.

We need to forget that, BY LAW Nevada only gets .3 maf (that's right girls and boys, POINT THREE million acre feet - here's Cali: 4.4 maf, and AZ: 2.8 maf) of all the Colorado river water that flows through Black Canyon.

We need to forget that, the up-till-now water projections were based on INCORRECT INTERPRETATION of HISTORICAL DROUGHT DATA from as far back as the 1930's or so.

We need to forget that, legitimate actuarials say that there might be a 50-50 chance we will be COMPLETELY out of water as early as 2012 or so.

And we need to forget about, all of the Banks, Mortgage Brokers, Loan Originators, Realty People, Title Companies, Attorneys, Builders, Developers, and Government Officials (gulp) who may have made zillions of bucks off of this tiny itsy-bitsy miniscule little local building-boom and who never said a THING about our water.

Why? Why? Why? Enough already. I am perfectly happy to live in burning desolation and abandoned empty sand.

Now if I can just figure out a way to... survive.
By davidwayneosedach

9/13/09 at 5:03 p.m.

Suggest removal

It would be wise to be thinking of the next ten, twenty, and thirty years now. By the time the third straw is desperately needed it's costs are likely to treble.
By skerlahdee

9/14/09 at 12:17 a.m.

Suggest removal

tex: read the 1927 seven states compact to understand why harry reid can't get Nevada more water
By wizardofOz

9/14/09 at 12:40 p.m.

Suggest removal

davidwayneosedach and skerlahdee.

Exactly correct comments.

Question: How far ahead do poker players think?
Answer: Just a few cards ahead. After that, it's a shuffle with new hand.

The rules were written in 1927, but we have poker players running the show.
By paul

9/15/09 at 1:02 p.m.

Suggest removal

Unless America suddenly chooses to adhere to a different paradigm when the national's and world economies rebound and rise to new heights this SNWA is merely posturing as Las Vegas and vicinity will require a tremendous increase in water to support it meteoric increase in population.

Should LV's population increase even more rapidly than it has even the 3rd "straw" into Lake Mead will not be sufficient.

The eye of the water storm is parked over the southwest and coupled with the pressures which increased populations produce as well as any pending weather issues, water will remain a paramount issue for all the southwest USA and Mexico currently dependent for their existence upon the ability of the Colorado River to provide for their sustenance.

Anyone living in the rural areas of Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado especially are invited to make time the assess and critically evaluate how you will survive when those currently owning and controlling your water choose to summarily take it without so much as by your leave"?

Respectfully,

Paul F Miller
http://waterman99.wordpress.com