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fi§ . - H H M In th® opinion of the Las Vegas Land & Water Company and the State Engineers O ffice, do they think that the water supply is g e t t in g © c r it ic a l that we should go look fo r other sources of water? i W l l o r it lc a l* jjg j B STRONG* We don 't know. We are ca llin g fo r the utmost conservation because,we find a decrease in the productive capacity of our w ells. Let me cite "" m in vestiSatinS th® City of Long Beach, which obtains its water from underground sources — I remember years ago on the Montana Ranch, some aj r 68 ^ust the c ity — the City o f Long Beach was then quite a small c it y . They bought a strip of land from the Montana Ranch Company and another oompany, and obtained an adequate supply of artesian water. Their elevation was such it could carry it by gravity. The engineer told me a short time ago that their draw down is 170 fe e t . They are s t i l l doing deep pumping. 5 1 ?,0t going to say* and 1 don't think Mr. Smith and Mr. Shamberzer can say, u n til they have completed their recharge work in the mountains - u n til * Wel1 where m te r does not flow » w® cannot say that there's not su fficie n t water. We may have a considerable increase in population. We are warning you. of the disturbing elements as we see them, and i t is going to take some very thorough and careful study, and fo r a period o f time it w ill not be possible to express a positive opinion. Am I not right? QUESTIONj The main thing this Body is interested in is — The Chamber of Commerce has gone to great lengths and a lo t of expense to advertise this area, and when this application was objected to we became alarmed. We wanted to find out i f there was not a su fficie n t water supply, and i f not, to go to work and make progress towards getting i t , MR. SHAMBERGER* The history of artesian basins, and in certain funda­mental principles they are a ll the same — they can be depleted, and oannot usually be brought back. Las Vegas has been blessed with one of the best artesian basins in the country. There are over 450 wells d rille d in this area, and s t i l l we have water, As Mr, Strong has stated, we cannot say as to whether or not i t has reached a c r it ic a l stage but we are somewhat worried. The fa c t of this protest had nothing to do with our investigation. This was started a long time ago because we realized that we have, sooner or la ter, to know the answer. Now, its true that every gallon conserved can be used fo r b en eficia l use, and we fe e l that would be one of the major points that this group should undertake. For instance, i f by the putting in o f meters in the City of Las Vegas, we can save two or three m illion gallons of water from going to waste, it can be used to fu r­ther develop this area. We have been assured by the Water Company that i f meters are put in,that the supply w ill take care of homes. We know that with a fla t rate, and no lim itations, people w ill allow water to run to waste, and it is not used fo r ben eficia l use. Too much water is allowed to run on the lawns in town — swimming pools are allowed to overflow. There oould be many conservation measures taken that would conserve the available supply. Nevertheless, as Mr. Smith stated, i t would be good business to look into municipal ownership. MR. HOOVER* I find one conclusive statement, and that is , this are®, has enough water to probably supply 25,000 population, - supplied by the Las Vegas Land & Water Company, Now, from other statements, the hydrostatic pressure has been greatly reduced, the flow has been reduced — we have had conservation of water the past few years of two to three m illion gallons a day. The impression is that we are in a c r itio a l situation so fa r as increased usage of water is conoemed. (17)