Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Tunnel reaches third straw at Lake Mead reservoir after seven years of digging

Third Straw Construction

Steve Marcus

A barge that serves as the working platform for a Vegas Tunnel Constructors crew is shown during construction of the the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s “third straw” at Lake Mead Tuesday, May 10, 2011. The crew is blasting a 60-foot shaft for the third straw intake tower.

Third Straw Construction

A rig of explosives is lifted by a crane during construction of the the Southern Nevada Water Authority's Launch slideshow »

After nearly seven years of slowly digging their way a few feet at a time through the earth beneath the surface of Lake Mead, workers today completed a 3-mile long tunnel to the third intake straw that will provide water to Las Vegas for decades to come.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority announced shortly after noon today that a tunnel-boring machine 600 feet below the lakebed had connected with the intake structure.

"They were on target. They hit the mark right where they wanted to be," said SNWA spokesman Bronson Mack, who called the news a "momentous occasion."

The straws draw water from the lake and deliver it to pumping stations, which in turn send it into Las Vegas. The city gets 90 percent of its water supply from the reservoir.

The completion of the tunnel is a major success for the $817 million project, which has struggled through cost overruns, construction delays and other mishaps. The most serious came on June 11, 2012 when 44-year-old Thomas Albert Turner was killed in a construction accident while working in the tunnel.

Construction on the third intake straw started in 2008 to provide a buffer against the drought, which has sent surface levels at Lake Mead plunging.

One of the two intake straws at Lake Mead will go offline once lake levels drop below 1,050 feet, a threshold that's only 34 feet below the lake's current elevation and could be reached within the next few years.

Without the third straw, the water authority would have lost half of its capacity to deliver water when the first intake goes offline.

Mack said there's still work left to be done on the third intake straw, but it should be operational by next summer.

There's still more work that will be needed to safeguard Las Vegas's water supply from the drought. The SNWA board today recommended plans calling for a new $650 million pumping station that will continue providing water to the valley even if lake levels drop below 1,000 feet. The station will be funded through a rate hike that will be phased in starting next year and top out in 2017 at an increase of about $4 to $5 per month for most residential customers.

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