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Las Vegas Review Jeumal-September 21, 1950 Public Service, Unit Starts Water Hearing this M om Ways and means of increasing Las Vegas’ water supply were under discussion late today at city hall as the Nevada public ser­vice commission started hearings in an effort to reach a decision as to how the problem can best be solved. W ith George Allard, chairman of the commission presiding, the hearing got under way in the jammed council room with repre-, sentatives of the Las Vegas Land and Water company on hand to defend a “show cause” action brought by the board of city com­missioners. A t the outset, A llard pointed out that the hearing was called at the specific request of the commissioners to force the water company to “show cause” w hy the local water supply should not be augmented. C ity Attorney Howard Cannon launched the discussion with pre­lim inary remarks showing the ur­gent need for additional water and then called W . C. Anderson, city engineer, as his first witness. Quoting from a report he sub­mitted to C ity Manager Chet Shelley on September 20, Ander­son said studies showed that the city, between Ju ly 25 and Sep­tember 1 of this year, consumed twelye-and-a-quarter m illion gal­lon ® °f water per day. Xft-response to Cannon’s ques­tions, . A n d erson said that, to his knowledge, the local water com­pany has made no effort to in­crease storage facilities. He described the two present" reservoirs as “far inadequate” to ; meet the needs of a city the size of Las Vegas. He said the com­bined storage facilities currently in use hold four-m illion gallons of water. ?f rom an indications, tne near­ing w ill continue throughout the day and1 With additional sessions during the week. n— --- IThen, Anderson added: “A c-cqirding to recognized engineering standards, a city of this size should have a storage capacitywof be­tween 12 and 15 million Gallons to meet a n y emergency^which might arise should the source of supply be cut off.” A t the present rate of con­sumption, Anderson related storage space of the two reser­voirs “ probably would be ex­hausted within a half-a-day if anything happened to the supply source— even if consumption was cut to a m inim u m .” I Anderson also contended that! additional booster pumps along I m ain water lines are needed to' assure both private and com­m ercial consumers of adequate pressure d u r i n g peak usage hours.. The city engineer said he had been informed by A1 Folger vice president and general m an­ager of the water company, that during the past nine months the concern has laid 22,700 lineal feet ofne w mainsthroughout the city. Th e y included 12, eight and six-inch lines, Anderson said he was told. However, he insisted, the addi­tional mains still are not suf­ficient to provide an adequate supply of water In m any sec­tions of town.