upr000267 170

Vegas Hook-up With BMP Water Line Seen Soon Early connection of the Las Vegas water system with the 40- inch pipe-line now transmitting water from" Lake Mead to the Basic plant at Henderson, was forecast yesterday. Kenneth Hill, of the Chicago engineering firm of Greeley and Hansen, met with the board of directors of the Las Vegas val­ley water district, to discuss his firm’s report and recommenda­tions, and at the conclusion of the session, it appeared to be the concensus of board mefnbers present that the project is not only feasible but immediately necessary. The board was particularly impressed with the plan to build, during 1950, a 42 inch line from I Las Vegas to a point near Pitt­man where it would connect with a 20-inch line from the reser­voir at Henderson. This would take care of the present short­age in this area. Within 10 years, more or less, a 40-inch line would be built from the junction point to Lake Mead, providing an independent supply to take care of anticipated growth from 1958-60 on through the year 2,- 000. Cost of the Basic-Las Vegas pipe-line and the necessary mains and storage in Las Ve­gas proper, plus estimated cost ' of acquiring the Las Vegas Land (Continued on page 2) 2 Las Vegas Review-Journal Tuesday, December 20, 1949 Vegas Hookup (Continued from page 1) ' and Water company’s producing | and distributing system, was es-. I timated at $4,500,000, which would be paid off through issu­ance of revenue bonds. Under the plan as outlined, an additonal 8,000,000 gallons of wa­ter per day would be made available for the Las Vegas area which would eliminate ail shorts ages and provide for anticipated growth during the next ten years. The.second connection w i t h Lake Mead could be undertaken at any time in the future and could be timed to correspond with the demand erf actual j growth. j The needs of Las Vegas' air ] force base were not figured in I the report nor the estimated cost [ of $4,500,000, but Hill, together ‘ with representatives of the wa-s ter board, were expected to com ' fer with Colonel Joe Mason to get that picture clearly to be t certain the requirements would be met. Indications were that the new system would be tapped either at file North Las Vegas city lim­its or at Whitney with perhaps a 20 inch line to permanently serve file base wbich at present obtains its water supply from, r rtesian wells whose production Is just barely adequate. I -Water board directors were j meeting this afternoon with Gov­ernor Vail Pittman, members of the Colorado river commission, and Attorney -General A l a n Bible, to write the answers to all engineering and legal details which were still in the air. Indications were that as soon as these matters were disposed of, serous negotiations would be entered into with the Las Vegas Land and Water company for acquisition o f their system. Board members expressed the belief that this would probably come about within approxi­mately 60 days. North Las Vegas authorities have advised the water board they are not ready to turn their municipally-owned water system over to the district,'but would participate through purchase of water. At the conclusion of yester­day’s meeting, Harry Miller, chairman of the water board, said he was "very optimistic” over the prospects for an early start in carrying out the first stage of tiie program. "The four and a half million dollar estimate is a long way from the twelve million we orig­inally were led to believe the improvement would cost,” he declared. " I feel certain we can work out the financing and that we should proceed without de­lay.”