EDITORIAL: The last straw for Lake Mead
The most important public infrastructure project in the region is taking on water — and it's great news for the valley's quality of life and economic security.
As reported by the Review-Journal's Henry Brean, the Southern Nevada Water Authority's new $817 million intake pipe beneath Lake Mead is expected to be finished and operating within a few weeks. Last week, after seven years of construction, contractors began filling that 3-mile tunnel as a first step toward drawing water from one of the deepest points in the reservoir.
By some point early next month, the tunnel will be filled with more than 60 million gallons of water, equalizing pressure inside and outside the pipe. Then the nearly 10-ton steel cap will be removed from the intake — a 16-foot hole in the bottom of the lake — and the authority can start sucking water from it and delivering it to valley residents and businesses.
More than a decade of drought has dropped the level of Lake Mead so low that both of the authority's existing intakes could become inoperable. The new intake will ensure that Southern Nevada can draw its allotment of water from the lake, even if the drought continues well into the future and the lake's level falls so low that Hoover Dam can't release water downstream to Arizona, California and Mexico. The authority has started work on a new $600 million pumping station, expected to be completed by 2020, that can pull water through the intake even under the drought's worst-case scenarios.
The intake is an engineering marvel, even though it can't be seen from the lake. The tunnel is 600 feet underground, and contractors overcame seeping groundwater to finish construction.
The Las Vegas Valley can't sustain its population and economy without access to the Colorado River water stored in Lake Mead. The third intake provides Southern Nevada with water supply insurance that is the envy of the rest of the West.
The project's completion doesn't mean the county can cease its conservation efforts; indeed, a pending water banking agreement with California and the likelihood of a federal Colorado River shortage declaration mean we must do even more to reduce water use. But our new "third straw" will delay the need for the harsh restrictions California has imposed on its population and give us time to achieve new conservation goals. Thanks to everyone who made this project happen.
