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% Las V egas Review Journal-September 3» 1951 Water District Directors Study Two Alternatives A two-way approach to the water problem presented the Las Vegas valley as a result of Colonel Jess Larson’s rather blunt declaration Saturday that there might be no excess water in the Basic pipeline beyond plant needs, was being discussed informally by members of the board of directors who were frankly taken completely by sur­prise by the latest development. There was no indication of Lar­son’s thinking until he read his prepared statement at the Hen­derson session, and district di­rectors were still trying to evaluate the situation today. There still was the possibility that an engineering study plus a definite - determination of the needs of Basic lessees might re' veal a sufficient potential surplud to carry on with the original plan which calls for’ purchase of a maximum of 10,000,000 gallons! daily from the owners of the pipe-line. This information was expected to be ready within 6(f days or less, Larson said. The second approach was thej! ultimate goal of the water disl trict—construction of its owif pipe-line and pumping facilities at an estimated cost of $12,-I 000,000. This is charted in the present program for 1960, with! the Basic pipeline surplus con-| sidered somewhat in the light of a stop-gap arrangement. The water district directors met Saturday afternoon to di­gest ? the Larson brochure, but decided to issue no statement until more/ thought could be giv­en to the’ matter, and a few more answers obtained. Indica­tions were the directors would meet late this, afternoon or to-, morrow with a view to formulat­ing official comment on the Lar-| son declaration. Tom Campbell, chairman of the water board, admittedly rather disappointed and unhappy over the sudden turn of events, never­theless indicated he felt there is a solution to the problem which will fit the capacity of the area to finance. Making it plain he was not speaking as an official of the district but as an individual, Campbell said: “ With an ample supply of water in Lake Mdad, just 17 miles distant, it is ridiculous to Say that there can be lack of! water in this valley. “ There is an answer. The way is there. It is up to us to 'find it. If the engineering studies es­tablish the fact that national de­fense needs make it impossible (for us to obtain water from the (present pipe-line facilities, jhen (we’ll ha /e to work out another jplan. | “ It appears that colonel Lar­son’s statement means our stop-j feap plan is not feasible and w e’ll have to work from there.] |Vfter all it was the district’s ulti­mate aim to build an indepen­dent line and there must be an Campbell said the directors felt it was impossible to fully digest the Larson statement and have a discussion of all points in the limited time allotted by the General Services chief during his stay here, and stress two points which were not com-, mented upon at the Saturday session. “ Our directors feel it Is signi­ficant,” Campbell said,” that although Mr. Larson referred to inaccuracies in our letter to him, that nowhere in his rather lengthy statement did he point] them out. “ In his statement also Mr. Lar­son declared that the Basic plant must have a prior call on all the Lake Mead pipeline facility if and when needed. If he means a prior call on all the water that answer to the problem of fin-/can be pumped, that closes the ancing its construction, even atl door to any hope we might have Xhis time. ? “ I feel there must be a re mewed effort and a united ond put forth to Solve this problem fhe way we have traditionally solved similar problems of deve­lopment here in southern] Nevada. “ The fact that Colonel Larson says things have happened since last spring to alter our plan to get water from the Basic pipe­line doesn’t change the problem at all. Nor does it mean Las Vegas is going to dry up and blow away. “ I am confident we will be able to come up with the answer for getting any water from that source. “ He. then says that in view of that situation the public should no longer be misled. With this we agree. “ We feel strongly, however, that the inference, is the water district has misled the public. Let it be said here that the water district has at all times acted upon statements from qualified representatives of Gen­eral Services administration, Senator McCarran and the Colo­rado River commission. “ The directors don!*,, propose to make an issue of these things and certainly as an individual ^ e y s^ou^ ^e Pointed member of the water district lout-board intend to work toward tha’t end.” Campbell was inclined to be critical of portions of the Lar­son statement which seemingly cast reflections on the manner in which the district had recently handled its negotiations, but said he felt that in the interests of general harmony they be dis- _ _ regarded. j SEP “ I don’t feel it should be our purpose to provoke any argu­ment with Larson, who appears Ito me to be the kind of an in­dividual with whom you can sit at a table and work out any problem on a man-to-man basis. If it were possible to deal with him directly and avoid going through intermediaries, I have no doubt we could get the job done without, delav.” \a / M - R - 8 W