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Uncertainly Over! Water Level May) Stymie New Plan Uncertainty of the underground | ; water Supply in Las Vegas Val- j : ley''is the principal obstacle in j the way of immediate acquisition j of the facilities f and wells of the Las Vegas Land and Wj,ter | company by the water district, j Spencer T. Butterfield, a ct-i ing chairman of the board of directors said this morning. Las Vegas Mayor 0. D. feaker: and County Commissioner H ar-1 ley E. Harmon urged this plan yesterday at a general meet- j ing held at the chamber of com- ? merce to consider the water I ; problem, and both suggested that is l this could be done while details 1 \ of obtaining an additional supply '• f from trie Basic pipeline wpre : I being worked out. - ' Baker, father of the enabling act which made possible cred-tion of the water district while ? ?he was state senator, and'him- 1 self an engineer of wide exper- * ience, expressed the belief that; * if meters were installed to elim- • I inate wastage the underground ; (supply “ will carry us over next j |j summer and by that time the district certainly ;can Complete | | some kind of contract for ob-; j taining Lake Mead Water through j the Basic pipeline.” Butterfield said today the dis­trict’s board had considered ahat plan seriously but predictions by •the State Engineer Hugh Sham- •berger that the underground supply wak rapidly deteriorat­ing would have an adverse ef­fect on potential bond buyers and perhaps the bonds could not, be marketed. The mayor expressed the be­lief that the state engineer’s comments had been exaggerated somewhat in the public mind and , said he felt that the conference with Shamberger scheduled for Las Vegas next month should clear the atmosphere on t h i s point. The meeting yesterday was the regular session of the district’s board of directors to I which were invited representa­tives of Clark County, the cities Sof Las Vegas and North L a s ’ Vegas, directors of the cham­ber of commerce, Colorado Riv­er commission and the plant lessees. 9 | i ew J o u r n a l-A u g u s t IQ I 95I Mayor-Baker andTtommission-ers Wendell Bunker and Wil­liam Peccole of Las Vegas, Coun­ty commissioners Harmon and Harvey McDonald, North L a s V e g a s Commissioner Warren Stanley, and President Dick Ron- ^one of the chamber of com­merce all pledged active support of. the water district in their ef­forts to m eet, the impending shortage and agreed to notify the congressional delegation. Later, however, it was. de­cided to continue plans for the Washington meeting on the theory that Larson holds the key and because of heavy duties in defense work probably would not come west. v Returning to the Baker-Har-mon proposal, Campbell s a i d the- district directors felt it was not feasible to proceed piece­meal— that the whole project, including the final contract on t C r S i T , , the Basic supply should be con- » w ? r ep r ,"d s “ e “ * " * ? Chairman Thoi—-s A. Campbell 11 e at saroe ume‘ of the water district were: 1. Agreement that a round - table session should be had in Washington with Jess Larson of General Services administration. Senator Pat MeCarran w a t e r district representatives. Colora­do River commission, and Basic j lessees in an effort to come up :with a satisfactory answer to the pressing problem. 2. Approval of a meeting be­tween the water district board and the Basic lessees in an ef­fort to reach an understanding so that the district’s program •-may have the support of the* lessees. 3. Revelation by the w a t e r district board members for the first time that meters will have to be installed in order to elimi­nate water wastage and insure maximum supply/This would be] in addition to the announced raise in rates to two and one half or three times the present figure. 4. Explanation that building an entirely new pipe-line from the lake to Las Vegas is impos­sible because the cost would ex-' ceed the bonding capacity of the district The best method for cracking the impasse in negotiations for the Basic pipeline which arose when the lessees refused to ap­prove the transfer to the water district was discussed at length. Campbell reiterated previous statements that the negotiations should be had in Las Vegas and that G. Si A. should send “ a full time representative'’ * cloaked with authority to conclude them. “ I think this issue should be fought out in Las Vegas where the full weight of public opinion can be brought to bear,” he de­clared. Baker said after the meeting he felt sure the public would ap­prove purchase of the Las Ve­gas Land & Water company’s well, reservoirs and pipelines now with the idea, in mind that this would take care of the im­mediate problem and that nego­tiations could continue for ac­quisition of the Basic pipeline or a contract for a definite portion of the supply from Lake Mead until completed. “ If meters are installed and consumption cut te a reasonable figure, we can get by for a year or two — Maybe longer,” he pointed out. “ In the meantime, the water district would get its organisation set up and oper­ating and would then be able to negotiate the best possible deal.” The mayor said he was not convinced that the n e x t few years wouldn’t show sufficient growth to make feasible the con­struction of another pipeline from the lake by the district which, he contended, would make the district independent of “ any governmental regulation,” a n d “ from polities.” ' “ I think we should own our own, independent, pipeline, Mm from the lake by the district Basic plant. That would be bet­ter for everybody,” the mayor said. Commissioner William Pecole declared he felt that the 10,000,- 000 gallons a day the district would . obtain from tee Basic pipeline Would' hot be?l»jffieieht to take care o f the growth here during the next five years. “ I have every confidence in the future of this area, and I believe we should have a line from which we pan pump 20 to 30 million gallons a day,” he declared. “ We’ll need it be­fore most of you think.”