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Hay 8, 1953 Dick Adler P. Q. Box 1710 Rapid City, South Dakota Dear Dick: This letter is written in response to your inquiry of May 2, regarding our water supply. We do not have any rivers in this part of the desert, so we obtain our water from the artesian or underground channel. The water in the artesian channel comes from snow meltage in the Charleston Mountains, about 35 miles west of Las Vegas, and flows underground until we tap the supply with a well__ whereupon the water rises to the surface and overflows. We then capture the water in a pipeline and transmit it to a large concrete structure called a settling*- basin. At this point it drops any small grains of sand it may have picked up in the underground channel, and emerges from the settling-bas­in as clear, sparkling artesian water. It Is then carried through more pipelines to the big reser­voir, thence into the city, where smaller service lines Carry the water into homes and buildings. We have, at the present time, eleven big artesian wells, drilled to a depth of 400 to 1200 feet, and these wells produce more than fif­teen million gallons per day. The population of Las Vegas is about 30,000 and it is located in Southern Hevada. We hope you get an in your Science Class. Very truly yours, L» R. Maag LRM/dm