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LasVegas, Nevada, MORNING TRIBUNE, Nov . 5, 1944. Firm Supplies Only Half of Vegas Water By M A T T IE GJASSON ' ' Less than half of the water used in Las Vegas valley is from the wells of Las Vegas Land and Water company, it was pointed out at the Chamber of Commerce-sponsored meeting of Union" Pacific rail­road, state engineers, city and county officials and interested water users here Friday. The data were presented at the meeting during —-------- :--------------------------------- a discussion of what local water resources were available for fu­ture expansion of this area. Water company officials urged a program of conservation pending, comple­tion of studies, pointing out that their own facilities were suffi­cient for a population of only 25,000. - There are approximately 450 - wells in the artesian basin, of j. which 11 are owned by the water a company. One of the wells is for 1 exclusive use of the railroad, and Jhe other ten are the source of ,t water supplied through their pipe r lines to city users. “ Figures presented by Hugh ?* Shamburger, assistant state engi- 5 neer, showed that August 1944 ? water use was: f City of Las Vegas 9,500,000 e gah Union Pacific Railroad 1,404,- ?3 000 gal. Total L. V. L and W. Co. 1T>,- 904,000 gal. North Las Vegas 1,200,000 El Rancho Vegas 320,000 Last Frontier ^80,000 Golf Course 150,000 Army 703,000 ' Mike Paps 325,000 Cemetery 70,000 Bonanza Road 315,000 h Other wells 5,750,000. h Total Las Vegas vicinity 19,- £ 927,000. j- Army Post 622,000 w Tule Springs 2,850,000 :f South Las Vegas Valley 8,- - 843,000. Grand T o ta l Las Vegas V alley - 25,242,000 gal. ?). Shamburger reviewed w o r k (Please turn to page 4) (Continued from page 1.) done by his office in recent years. He commended drillers, owners, users and city and county officials on the excellent co-operation that j had been given to- tfib depart- ’ ment. .. • “ Under the laW,” he said, “ the - water belongs to the public for 1 beneficial use. A permit or certfc- • ficate gives the right to use the ? water, but is not a title to water. “ In 1939 the state engineer started work in this valley. We measured wells, obtained logs, and established 25 observatory wells. We have records of the pressure of the wells, and there \ has been a steady decline. This 4 does not necessarily mean an over use of water, for there has been a steady increase in the population. Through the conserva- ’ tion program many wells have , been repaired, leaks stopped, etc., f; and we have saved from two to three million gallons daily. I “ Through a co-operative agree-b ment USGS is here, and within • two years we ought to know the 1 full story. Several recorders have , been installed for hourly and - daily fluctuation. Good co-opera-p tion has been received frcftn the ;t Army Engineers, and within a . few weeks we will have aerial picr 1 tures of the watershed areas, i Tests are being made to deter-i, mine the amount of recharge, t Only limited records have been :, available in the past from Kyle [ canyon. Five new recorders have ;i been installed in watershed areas, 1 as well as a snow recorder. Since *1 1941 the forest service has made ?: a snow survey in Kyle aiid‘ Lee t canyons. ,® - “ These tests should lead to a 1 fairly accurate picture of the un- I derground water and tell how far II we can go. “ It is known that there are >, several aquifers of underground i, water. Some are connected and ’ some are not. The area of the j Union Pacific wells is considered L most critical. Two thirds of the i water for the valley is taken froin that district. There can bd some decrease in hydrostatic pressure without cause for alarm, but we must be careful. This does not mean that we intend to restrict drilling, but we will have to keep a careful watch on some areas. Our policy will be flexible, but out action slow. History has shown that if an artesian reservoir is b drained, they seldom fill up j again.’ E d ito r’s N ote: A n oth er article on L as V egas w ater w ill appear in th e next issue o f the C o rn in g Tribune: ’j a M n n n M H M An li q I s< e: e« st a-s< sim tfc b) si