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\ Las Vegas Review Journal-August 16, 19 5 1 ? ? rr- ~ - ^ ^ M' ‘ 7T | Water Service Normal After Pump Repair Work' Water service was back to normal here this afternoon and homeowners and ranchers, ask­ed to discontinue sprinkling and irrigating last night, may re­sume normal usage, William Johnson,, manager of the Las Vegas Land and Water com­pany, announced this morning. Crews have been working bn the disabled pumps, which caused the water output lag, since ? they were knocked out Tuesday night and they were in full operation again today. pnly two pumps were dis­abled, Johnson said. They were put out of commission by a short circuit resulting from a power outage about 8:20 PM Tuesday. All of the pumps, used to replenish the water stores in the company’s huge storage tank, as they are depleted by the water users, were out for about 20 minutes during the power outage, it was reported. This caused a serious deple­tion of the storage water, John- ! son stated. All of the pumps but two resumed 'operation when the power came back on, but with two pumps out of service a water shortage was bound to result in mid-evening’ when water usage is at its peak. Yesterday there were 14,495,-[ 000 gallons of water pumped j compared to a normal pumpage i of 16,500,000 gallons. ? ? ? ? ? Are You A Water Waster? ’ Here’s the Las Vegas water picture: Amount of water pumped yesterday—14,495,000 gallons. Number of gallons used here . per capita— approximately 580. Number of gallon- used throughout nation per capita r —approximately 200. j Basic Pipeline Not Used T # Full Capacity There is sufficient capacity in the 40-inch Basic pipeline from Lake Mead, to provide the peak amount of water used any day this summer in Las Vegas and; the Henderson area, a survey ' by the Review-Journal indicated today. With the present battery' of pumps, the pipe-line can produce 133.000. 600 gallons every 24 hours. I Peak use in Las Vegas this [year was 18,000,000 gallons on July 5. Peak amount pumped through the pipeline ffom Lake [Mead to the Henderson reser-ivoirs, was 15,000,000 gallons on July 12. The average-consumption at Basic for the month Of July was 8.000. 000 gallons a day. The low­est recorded by the Las Vegas Land and Water company so far this summer was 8,500,000 gal­lons on August 8, when the area 'was visited by a heavy rain­storm. Observers pointed out ‘ this I morning that the argument over | the water situation at the plant is a discussion of peak capacity and does not fit any actual, prac­tical situation that could forsee-ably develop. [ With .adequate storage, few cou ld' see any reason why the capacity of the present pipe-line wouldn’t be sufficient to take Scare of any needs at Basic and In the Las Vegas area, until an­other pipeline could be built. - j Colorado river commission en­gineers have expressed the opin­ion that the capacity qf the Basic pipeline could be increased \ an additional 10,000,000 or more gal­lons per day by adding the nec­essary pumps to push the water through under heavier pressure. ..---------- o— -------- - City Dads Back Water District City commission was on rec­ord today as an all-out support­er of Vegas valley water-seek-; ers. On the heels of general serv­ices administration’s k.o. of the Lake Mead Water plan, commis­sioners resolved that the city should give a lift to water dis­trict directors in | their continu­ing fight, and in tapping new .sources. ? Sfayor C. D. Baker said last­ing solution of Las Vegas’ water problem could come only from development of an independent water supply. Commissioners favored telling Nevada congressmen how much the Basic pipeline, bringing lake water, here, was needed. The city placed its services at the disposal of the thirsty board: of water directors. f