WSP09455 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

.,-! L'" c:; .-; ''10nday, December 11, 1995 c ~~'''"_.~.. THE DENVER POST .. 'v,h.' _., "..~~__..;;ti.;':;c.,;;.;,;;..., ,,,.~.- .......,. ,-.- _--..--- ..,..._--~.._.~_.- ...:..--"",,,:.;w"''"'_~_ ~".,_." A DESERT DRINKS Las Vegas satisfies thirst for water By Jim Carrier Oenva' PO$l SlaffWril"r LAS VEGAS, Nev. - That grinding noise on the west shore of Lake Mead this .week isa boring macbine biting. , into rock, digging a IS.foot lunn!.. But to Las Vegas, 4 miles away. ~ thesoundisaslotmachlncc1ank- " ing coins as fast as they can be scooped, The tunnel will drain water from the lake to lhe nation's fast- est growing city, population 1 mil- lion. Running alongside anexisl- iog pipe, It will see Las Vegas to its second million and salisly the city's awesome tltirst for the next century. That a city once a stepchild to Southwest water guzzlers, and so despised:orltsdesertdecadence, could suddenly drink so freely is proof that thc West still can turn watcr Into money and vice versa. "This Isa major change," said Patricia Mulroy, the plain-gpo- ken, smooth-talking general man- ager of the Las Vegas Valley Wa- ter District. "We've rewritten the culture of the river." Inaserlesofchoreographed . moves that preceded the drilling by days, Mulroy announced she'd found watcr and a way to pay for a big new straw Into the Colorado River, which drains into Lake Mead. Dramatically higher watcr bills werc approvcd last week along with a pact with the river's biggest user, the Metropolitan Water District In Los Angeles. Las Vegas could see its puny shareoftheColoradoRiver- enollgh to supply just 300,000 familles-gctrnuchblgger. Colorado, by contrast, has enollgh river water for 4 million familics,withCalifornlaatncarly Please see WATER on 11 A The Denver POllt I Shllm Slenlev BIG THIRSTI A water tap at a new subdivision, lake Las Vegas, on Lake Mead aims to bring more water from the Colorado River for new lawns and homes in Las Vegas.