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LAS V C W J OU R NA L PUB L I SMjElp Air Base Maps Plans (or Own Water Supply The Nellis air force base Is laying plans for the development of its own expanded water sys­tem, to take care of the prob­able shortage which will pre­sent itself by next summer, it was revealed this morning by Colonel E. S. Chickering, execu­tive officer of the base. , As a result of the plan, the air base will not hook onto the pro­posed Las Vegas valley water district system when, as and if it becomes a reality. Colonel Chickering said this morning that the air base of­ficials foresee an immediate water shortage when the hous­ing project at the base is com­pleted, and reported that the peak last summer was 900,000 gallons per day, and by next summer that peak will be raised, to two million gallons. Water enough to supply that i •xpected peak cannot be provide ed by the present facilities at the base, Colonel Chickering said, and some means of augmenting 1 the supply immediately had to be found. As a result of this predica­ment, the air base requested a ! •urvey team to come here from j Washington with the idea "~of de­veloping new sources. It was supposed that the supply could not be augmented except by go­ing to Lake Mead. However, when the survey team arrived and started work, it was determined that the sup­ply could be expanded from un­derground sources. It was point­ed out that the air base appar­ently is on a separate aquafoer and that, whereas the Las Vegas water table has receded in the past few years, the air base table has risen some four feet since 1945. This, it was pointed out, would make it feasible to develop the necessary supply from the un­derground water sources and that it would be far cheaper for the air base to put down wells than it would be to share in the cost of the Lake Mead water system. 1950 I P must nave the water by next summer," Colonel Chickering fmwat it would takbee enb etiwnefoen™ e1d6 and 24 months, after the bond issue is passed before the water t As th« bond issue probably will not be ready be-mmee^ Ln” ™n°* mSoprerl nwga’ tetrh awt ouwldo ublde fvlailabl? when we will need ffl] the most, and therefore, we will S have to develop our own expand­ed service. f as Vegas valley water ' district is a good thing and will be needed if the Las Vegas area is to expand. However, under needs,? riHet 5ewni‘ll, b, aen dn eceimssmareyd iafoter P L ,10* get more water before next summer. Therefore, we will have to get our expansion pro­gram under way immediately,” ! Chickering said. ’ l Under the present plans,'the Will start the work on e®An^on jDt the water • sys-sSB itohediaf ly. seat ? wijQsffwlvmfe; are si®pjahg the new ones. This work probably will start in the next few weeks, it was reported. Meantime, officials of the Las! Vegas valley water district said that the air base plans would not affect the program laid out for the development of Lake Mead water for the valley area. Officials of the water district said that the air base project would cut the cost of the over­all program and would reduce the amount of bond money to be-requested in the election. The water district has most of the preliminary work done on the project now, and will be able to go ahead with plans for the' bond issue within the next few weeks. „ C . H . HOV i 4 K . 1950 S d o