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• 5 w T A J fi ere 3 S n B y JOHN F. CAH LAN (Subbing for AEC) A meeting of great importance to the future of the city of Las Vegas and the surrounding ter­ritory is scheduled.for November 3 when the chamber of com­merce, city, county and state of­ficials and representatives of the Union Pacific and the Las Vegas Land and Water company gather around the conference table to discuss the water situation as it exists in the Las Vegas valley. It is a meeting which well may mould the future of this area for years to come. The water situation in the Las Vegas valley area has been a great deal like the w e a t h e r , everybody talks about it but no­body does much about it. As long as we have the artesian supply on hand and we can operate our coolers, get enough to drink, wash the dishes and the dog, we go merrily on our way. But , there’s a day of reckoning com­ing, according to the experts, and it would do the citizens of the community to pause for sev­eral moments and,cogitate on the future of this section. No one will deny that the gen- . eral picture of the future for Las Vegas, Boulder City and the rest of the southern Nevada recrea­tional area looks bright. We’U have tourists galore and money, for the most part will flow like a golden stream into the section as people come here to play and relax. That is for sure. Industry is something else again. This area never will be able to sell big industry on this section as a site for factories without a visible supply of water. We can argue from now until the big trump blows that our under­ground supply is sufficient, but engineers, upon whose recom­mendations millions of dollars will be spent, won’t go for spec­ulation, they "will demand facts. And we doubt very much if there is anyope anywhere in the nation who will stake his repu­tation upon a prediction of how long the underground supply of •water will last. There’s too much of a gamble in such a prediction, and it is dependent upon too many variable factors. We make 'no comment upon what is past or what is going on in the present. What’s past is water out of the artesian well pipes. What goes on in the pres­ent is important only as to the effect it will have on the future. There is no room for argument as to what type of water service has been accorded in the past or in the present. It has been ad­equate and reasonable. There should be no wrangling, by any agency or citizen regarding, what is past. We should keep our eyes to the 'future and let the dead past, bury its dead. This should not be taken as criticism of any­one, it is merely said in the spirit of conciliation so that all can sit around the conference table with an open min<£ and lay out the paths for the future. There are several plans in the minds of the people who will sit on the conference and they all should be aired, even if the meet­ing has to be prolonged to get the whole discussion in. This is too important a problem to be dismissed lightly, and if neces­sary a series of discussions should be held until the entire problem is exhausted and some solution found. If we continue to base our future on the underground water of Las Vegas we are building on a rather shallow foundation. No one knows how long that under­ground water supply will last, B y A . E. C a h la n and the theory that the artesian belt is fed by huge subterranean rivers rapidly Is being exploded. Don’t take our word for it, ask anyone who knows the situation first hand. They’ll tell you that the wells are dwindling in their output and as the years go for­ward there will be a further shrinkage. Don’t get the idea that there is any cause for immediate alarm —: there isn’t. The water supply is sufficient to supply Las Vegas, on the present popula­tion basis, for many years. How­ever, it will not be able to ab­sorb any large influx of indus­try, for industry’s first need is water and with industry will come expanded population. It is time we faced facts, .and took the necessary steps, for if we are to have; a greater Las Vegas 25 years from now, we must lay the foundation NOW.