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VOL. XLIII, NO, 166______________ LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, SUNDAY, JULY 8, 1951 With Las Vegas residents using water at a record raie during the past two weeks, officials of the Las Vegas Land and Water company today, were beginning to wonder if the supply available from the underground sources would withstand the drain which i. expected. during the latter part of July and the month of August. Toffient," me ‘otTI'claTs said, we are draining the re­servoir during most of the day faster than we ean supply it, and if that procedure continues, we may have a tough time main­taining the supply/’ William Johnson, manager of the Las Vegas Land and Water company, reported today that the use of water during the month of June and the first week in July had jumped 25 per cent above the average use for the same period last year. ’ . . “ It seems that the more wa­ter we,supply, the more is us­ed and there is a distinct pos­sibility that there will not be enough to go around when the Jate July and August hot spells arrive." Johnson pointed out that the average consumption during the year 1950 was approximately 10y> 000,000 gallons per1 day. During the first few days in July, 1951, that average jumped to 18,000,- 000 gallons per day. . “ Just as an instance,” John-! son said, “ Friday night, between ! 6 and 7 .o’clock, the .consump­tion was 940,000 gallons per hour. Between 7 and 8 that consump­tion leaped to more than a mil­lion gallons, and then, between 8 and 9, it fell back to 970,000 gallons- However, between 9 and 10 the consumption rose to the million gallons per hour, which meant that the drain on the re­servoir was greater than the amount put into it.” Johnson said 'that from 5 o’­clock ir. the evening until 10 at night, “ the residents are taking out more water than we are able to put back in. As a result, we don’t have too much time to bring the storage back up to normal.” Johnson called attention to the fact that the Land and Water company had develop­ed a source of some three and a half million gallons of water per day more than was avail­able during 1950, and still the summer consumption was greater than the capacity. Residents in the western sec­tion of the city have reported that the wells which they have on their property are developing only about one-third of the nor­mal capacity, so water experts point out that the Land and Wat­er company is not the only unit facing shortages. Johnson said last night the pressure in the West Charleston area and the Fourth and Stewart section fell by 25 per cent and it was necessary to correct the situation as soon as it was re­ported. The company official said that he, is convinced that 95 per cent of the residents are conserving water as much as possible, but that 5 per cent is paying no attention to the possible, water shortage, and is making it tough on the rest of the community. Water experts here pointed out tha-t Charleston mountain area situation is “ really disturbing,” because, they said, if the moun­tain springs are drying up, as reported by the forest service, then the Las Vegas area can expect increasing shortages in the months to come. I E V A D A | Speed Water j District Deal : Governor Charles H. Russell !will be asked to make a per­sonal appeal to Jess Larson, gen-jeral services administration head in Washington, in an effort to get the interim contract for tne Las Vegas valley water dis-tiict cleared and signed, it was reported from Carson City Sat­urday morning. : The water district has been attempting to get. the contract 'out of the hands of John Mueller, llocai GSA representative, and (into the Washington office for signature for the past several weeks, it was reported, and have met with no success whatever. A meeting with Mueller, the southern Nevada division of the Colorado river commission and the water district officials for, Tuesday, at which time the water district officials will de­mand to know why so much de- Jay has tangled up the progress of the contract. Mueller contends that some changes are necessary in the proposed contract, but water dis­trict officials say they have agreed informally to the changes and tnere is no reason for Muell­er’s delaying -tactics.