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v W ater Conservation, Meters Urge# A water conservation program, ?with the ultimate installation of meters in Las Vegas to protect the underground supply of water I In the area, was recommended f yesterday at the water meeting ) which was held at El Rancho Ve­gas and which drew a crowd of nearly 100 persons. State, eity, county and Union Pacific officials gathered with members of the chamber of commerce to discuss the ques- ; tion of water In this valley, j and after a three hour round taHe discussion, several in­teresting angles were devel­oped. 'f&e proposal to install meters for the conservation of water was forthcoming from State En­gineer A. M. Smith, who gave a comprehensive picture of the water supply in the valley and expressed growing concern about the-drop in the water level. Smith declared that conversa­tion must be practiced by every water user in the valley and, j during the discussion which fol-l lowed his opening statement, showed that the water company j supplied less than 50 per cent of j the water which was developed in the entire Las Vegas valley, j He urged that meters be installed j on every water outlet in the val- ! lay and said that if this goal is £ accomplished the water supply J ?will be protected and industry can be invited here with surety. >? Smith declared that it was ab- j solutely necessary to have water j from Lake Mead as standby and ' pointed out that it would be I neither as cheap nor as good as|‘ the water now being used. He said that the residents of < the valley were approaching i] the limit of underground water | and that when this limit is f reached the water rights of ! all concerned will be periled. 1 '“Drastic supervision and cur­tailment of waste must be prac­ticed in this area,” Smith said, “ and if you are to build a com­munity of great size here you j must get more water.” He suggested that the state j should have the priority in the j securing of the BMI plant water system, when, as and if it is j, available, and that if such a pro- ! gram is followed the water [! should be supplied to the users i at cost plus operation and main­tenance costs and amortization. He pointed out that this water would not be cheap and urged that, because of this factor, the present water supply should be conserved. He again stressed the fact that the Lake Mead water is I needed as standby. I As regards the restriction^ of f drilling' in the valley, Smith 5 said that the state engineers I office was interested mainly in protecting the key spots of the . supply so there would be no | heavy draft on these points. He said his Office was not pro­tecting the water company and that he could assure the resi- 1 | dents that development of i j water here would not be re­stricted until “we know that , the supply is being drained by the water which is being taken out of the ground.” j He concluded by saying that “we have had your interests at ; heart and we are doing the best | we can.” He pointed out that no j , study of the underground water; )had been made prior to the time •Jhe assumed office. Hugh Shamberger, assistant ; state engineer, reported that the office had received excellent co- : operation from most .people in j ' the valley, but what was neces- ; sary was the co-operation of ev- ! | ery water user in the area.- He pointed out that the under- I j ground water belonged to the j j public at large for beneficial use, and when a permit to drill: I a well was issued, the permitee j j is given only the use of the water ! and does not own it. He traced the work done by the state engineer’s office and ; said that the records show the I pressure of the wells is decreas- ; ing, not rapidly but steadily. He reported that through the con­servation campaign initiated by ; the state engineer’s office b e -' tween two and a half and three > million gallons of water per day; has been saved. He declared this -li must be a continuous program to jj be of any value. He said that within the next year the engineer’s office would | have adequate knowledge o f; the underground water supply, so that a program of develop-! ment could be planned and the future policies regarding drilling of wells set up. j Shamberger stated that the engineer’s office had not set i up an iron clad policy of no I more drilling, bat reiterated i the statement made by Smith that the key points must be protected. He said that action | regarding the issuance of drill - { ing permits would be slow and | that with the understanding i I and co-operation of the resi- ! dents of this section, more could be accomplished. | He closed by saying that the 5 people of this valley must guard ? j against full depletion of the1 j basin, because the history of j; | other artesian areas showed that ! [once the water is lowered below i the “cushion” area the basin' be- 1 comes depleted and will never , come back. i ; In answer to President Max Kelch’s query regarding how large a population could survive i in this area on the present water I supply, Shamberger reported i that with the utmost conserva­tion, a population of the present size could exist indefinitely. “We have reached the max-j j imum population for the water j ^supply upon the basis of what y facts are now known. Things (may change with the studies be­ing made now, but there can be no promise of that,” Shamberger [ said. y Frank Strong, Union Pacific j 1 representative at the meeting, in answer to a question of whether I the Union Pacific had sought new sources of water for the supply of the Las Vegas valley, reported that there had been no plans developed as yet and then explained that the Las Ve-j gas Land and Water company had not considered the BMI water system because of the suspicion with which a corpor- ! ation would be looked upon by the government if approaches | were made to the government I regarding purchase of this sys-! Item. “We do not desire to avoid : responsibility,” Strong said, “but we believe the plan to secure Lake Mead water for this area is a state problem. We have no objection to having water sup-! [plied by private or public agen-1 Icies in this area, in fact we will [encourage it,” he said.