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Vegas Valley Water District Nearer Reality Immediate steps for the | formation of a water district ' in the Vegas Valley, under the new law passed by the recent. session of the legislature, f were approved last night at a meeting of interested cit­izens held at the chamber of commerce office. Representatives from the city of Las Vegas, the county board, members of the city board of? North Las Vegas, the Colorado river commission and the Lasj Vegas army air field were pres­ent at the session and the whole! I history of the proposed project! was outlined by A. C. Grant, j who presided. At the conclusion of the ths-: cussion, /ft. E. Jones, district at­torney for Clark county, moved, | and it was passed;;unanimouSly,r that the group; approve the j formation of the water district,: that the chairman of the1 water, district, and the .chairman of the meeting- be authorized tp select; an engineer .to prepare a map, showing the proposed district' to | be included, that Grant be made chairman of the promotional group and take all possible steps to get the project' under way. It also was approved that the district attorney pe Asked to give all possible aids in preparing the petitions necessary .for the for-/ mation of the district, and Jones . pledged complete co-operation of I his office.. 53 . Grant, in outlining ‘the pur­pose of the meeting last night,; declared that the preliminary l plans had progressed far enough so that a complete picture could be drawn but suggested that the; thinking of the group be! con-j i fined, for the - moment, to get-; ting water into the Las' Vegas area alone. , . He said that, the artesian water situation in the valley had ] reached a, stage; where it was ne-j cessary to form the water dis-! trict in order to agument the present water supply. ' He said, in order to get the! district under way, several steps ' would, be necessary: Las Vegas,Nevada ?REVIEW - JOURNAL August 20,1947 Prepare a map showing what area is to be included in the district, 2— Prepare and circulate pe- 1 titions requesting the forma- i tion of the district. Five per i cent of the; electorate must sign j the petitions to make them ; legal, - 3— Present the petitions to ! the county commission, 4— The county commission- ; ers, if they find the petition i! to be sufficient, then must call J an election to see if the voters 1 of the Area approve the dis- i trict, . 5— If the election is favor- ! able, then offsets, who will I be elected at the district elec- ; tion;" Will “take over and as such will have the right to (Continnedyhn Page Three) Water, District , (Continued From Page Do- issue and-sell bonds and can purchase water systems apiff sell any water supply which might be available. If Frank Gusewelle, ciiairmad^of (he county : commissioners,, as- jured the meeting that -his/h&ard.j would be heartily" in favor of j (he formation of -the district and would do everything possible to’ ipeed the process. . Grant said that the .firm of- .1 engineers hired by : the cham­ber of commerce to make pre- j i liminary studies of the districtJ / I suggested that the district pm*'' J chase the existing city water I System, now. operated by the Las Vegas Land and Water I company, !anfl the Union Pa- jj fieic had expressed a willing­ness, to negotiate if-the water district is formed. Captain S. Honh, representing I Jhe Las Vegas army air field, I reported to the group that the; , jtrmy is very desirous of joining With the city in the water dis-. trict and- that already a request for four million gallons of water per day had been made by the army. i Grant said that the water line, I if established, would take off from the present Basic line and would follow the Basic highway to a point near the top of the hill,, i outside of Las Vegas, and then I one branch would swing to the air field, another to the Los An­geles highway Strip and the third : would come into Las Vegas. ? John V. Mueller, member of : j| the Colorado river commission, j dcelared that Las' Vegas had the I opportunity of a lifetime in the ! matter of securing ' adequate I water, and said that every effort | should be made to get the water ; here. j- “The water available from j Lake Mead will be more than enough to Dke care of the greatest growth possible, You I have an opportunity to get something here that no one ever dreamed possible. The for­mation of a water district is a must and should be accom­plished as soon as possible.” Grant said, just before the, j meeting adjourned, that the pre- i liminary engineering survey had shown that the - present water 1 supply in the valley,, from ar- ! tesian wells, is diminishing; that water from Lake Mead is plenti­ful and that the project, such as j is being planned by the water dis-' ! trict is perfectly feasible and 1 could be financed without too ; much trouble. Another meeting of the group will be held as soon as plans j move to a point where_ such a meeting can receive a report of progress, Grant said. ? |—j—s—-o ; L _