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Las Vegas Review Journal-^Iarch 2 7 , 19 5 1 Tentative OkeAl Given Water Plan; Of Vefasdistrict A definite - program for pur­chase of approximately 8,000,000 gallons of Lake Mead water per! day by the Las Vegas Valley! water district, is expected to be ready for approval by the Nev-J ada "Colorado river commission at its April meeting, as a rfeH suit of the conference held thisj morning between the Board of! directors of the district and the, commission. : Tt Following the general discus- f sion of various phases of the water situation as affecting the valley and the Basic plant, Governor Charles H. Russell named Commissioners Jack Beuhler, Frank Strong and A. E. Cahlan, Plant Manager Jul­ian Moore and Resident En­gineer A. J. Shaver to complete all necessary investigations and-to prepare the plan. Construction of an additional pipe-line from Lake Mead was envisioned by Beuhler, who pre­dicted that rapid increase of population in this area would force this move. Beuhler said that a study would have to be made into the life of the present pipeline to deter­mine whether replacements would be necessary. He said also that a study of the cost of de­livery should be made deter­mining the cost to the" plant and to the water district. Thomas A. Campbell, who re­presented the water district, said it was quite possible, under the present program, that water rates to the city of LaS Vegas would have to be raised, and might be doubled in order to finance the expansion program. Beuhler said,, however, * that there is every possibility, that, after a study is made, the esti­mated cost of construction, given to the water district, might be lowered. A six-point program for the purchase of water from the.Colo-rado river commission by t h e Las Vegas Valley water district was Dresented by Campbell. The program was based on the district’s purchase of 10,- 000,000 gallons of water daily from the Basic plant at Hen­derson, but there was sOme problem as to whether this amount of water could be spar- | ed. Plant lessees have asked the CRC not to make outside : allocations of water until their plants are completed, so there would he ample protection for future expansion. It was pointed out that, under the water district’s proposal there might not- be water enough ceed eight million gallons per day, Moore said. Applications for water to be used'by the district call for an ultimate of 41,000 . acre feet an­nually • which is ? approximately bne 13 percent of * Nevada’s total allocation of 300,000 acre feet per year. i Earl Ross, Stauffer Chemical company executive; said he felt that the entire valley should be |considered in “ one package” and jthat he believed the lessees at plant would go along with lany proposal to furnish water for expansion of the plant, be-/for Las y egas which would apply cause the maximum needs of thel available Surplus, lessees at the present time would leave only about eight million gallons per day of excess wafer. HpweVer, t^ie proposal made by Campbell'Was taken undei consideration;’^ the river boarc and will be discussed further. The water district.proposal, bas­ed on the 10 million gallon al­location, was as follows: 1—That the water is to be de livered at, or near, the termina reservoir into the pipeline fron Henderson to Las Vegas. 2— Payment plans for the wat! er would be worked out by mu-| tual agreement between the com-' mission and the Water district, 3— It would be necessary that any contract signed be a long­term one, preferably not less than 40 years, in order that ,a bond issue might be approved, 4— The Las Vegas water dis­trict will, if necessary, construct an additional reservoir of t h e same capacity: as those now in ct.pT1 P p 5— All parties and securities of district bond, agreements, shall be binding upon successors and as­signs of all parties. It was pointed out that the general services administra­tion would have to approve such contracts and, should the facilities revert to the GSA, the federal agency also should he pound by the agreement. Julian Moore, plant man­ager, presented the commission with figures on the amount of water used at, the plant, -indi­cating a plant use at peak of 18,000.000 gallons per day.; At the present -time the pipeline capacity is about 27 million gal­lons daily. This could be boosted about four and a half million by the addition of new pumps. The surplus, however, will not ex- Of course,” he pointed out “ the lessees will have to be assured of sufficient water for their oWn operations for with­out ' that the plant would be valueless.” Of the 18,000,000 gallons per day peak required for plant use, 9,500,000 gallons is f o r plant lessees.' The rest goes to the Henderson townsite, the FPHA projects at Victory Village and Carver Park, and the town of I Pittman. p q: