Nevada senator proposes second water pipeline through conservation area

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A proposal to tunnel beneath a national conservation area to install a second pipeline to deliver Colorado River water to a large swath of suburban Las Vegas has drawn support from Nevada’s senior Democratic senator.

U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto announced Thursday she introduced legislation asking Congress to let the Southern Nevada Water Authority drill the underground pipeline through part of Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area.

“This legislation will increase the capacity of our entire water system in the (Las Vegas) valley while protecting our unique ecosystems and the residents and businesses in Henderson,” Cortez Masto said in a statement.

Federal funds are not part of the $2.5 billion project cost, and construction is not expected to begin for at least two years, said Bronson Mack, water authority spokesman. Construction is not expected to disturb the desert surface, although survey work would be conducted.

Southern Nevada water users will fund the work, Mack said, and the pipeline won’t increase the amount of water the region draws from the drought-depleted Lake Mead reservoir behind Hoover Dam. The Las Vegas area, in the Mojave Desert, is home to 2.4 million residents and attracts some 40 million visitors per year. It is almost completely dependent on water from the Colorado River.

“We’re still in the permitting phase,” Mack said. “We expect about two years of engineering design work and about two years for construction.”

The water authority calls the Sloan Canyon route, dubbed the Horizon Lateral, “preferred” over an alternate that would install the 10-foot (3-meter) diameter pipeline beneath homes and businesses that have sprouted in recent decades in Henderson. Cortez Masto and Mack said the urban route could add $200 million to the cost of the project.

Plans call for the pipeline to run perhaps 40 miles (64 kilometers) from existing Lake Mead intakes almost to Interstate 15. Mack said about 8 miles (13 kilometers) would be beneath the conservation area.

The water authority official said the goal is “redundancy and increased water service reliability.” The pipeline would provide a backup to one existing pipeline completed in 1999 that now serves nearly 1 million people, or 40% of water authority customers, in fast-growing parts of Henderson and Las Vegas.

Cortez Masto’s request is for congressional approval to allow construction through the federal reserve. It would also expand the boundary of the conservation area by about 16% making it more than 90 square miles.

The legislative move came just days after Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo signed a law passed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature to let the Southern Nevada Water Authority restrict the amount of water provided to homes — if the federal government further dials back Nevada’s share of water drawn from the river.

The Sloan Canyon conservation area was designated by Congress in November 2002. It offers desert and mountain hiking with scenic views of the Las Vegas area and encompasses the 23-square-mile (59.5-square-kilometer) North McCullough Wilderness. It features a culturally significant site with ancient rock drawings, called petroglyphs, representing native cultures believed to date back thousands of years.

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