The Meadows by John Guillory, P.E
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The Meadows By John Guillory, P.E. The Las Vegas metropolitan area currently has a population of well over 2 million people, however, less than 200 years ago that figure was limited to the Native Americans (Anasazi, Mojave, and Paiutes) who roamed the area for thousands of years. In 1829, Las Vegas was ‘discovered’ by Raphael Rivera, a Mexican scout for the expedition of Antonio Armijo who pioneered the Old Spanish Trail between New Mexico and California. The valley became known as Las Vegas, meaning "the meadows" in Spanish, due to its lush, grassy meadows that were fed by three large springs that became known as “Las Vegas Springs” or “Big Springs”. For more than 15,000 years, these springs (located about three miles west of downtown Las Vegas) bubbled up from the desert floor and yielded several thousand acre-feet of water per year. Explorer John C. Fremont was the first person to document and map his visit to the large springs in Las Vegas in 1845. From this point forward, the Las Vegas Springs site would sustain travelers of the Old Spanish Trail, ranchers who came to settle the West, and by the turn of the century - a budding town and railroad. Photo of Big Spring (ca. 1905) The San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad was completed in 1905 and the City of Las Vegas was born. Also formed in 1905, the Las Vegas Land and Water Company was tasked with supplying water to the railroad and newly formed town. According to Las Vegas Land and Water Company records, the Las Vegas Springs produced 6,400 acre-feet of water per year in 1906. In July of 1907, private land owners began drilling wells into the underground aquifer to augment the spring flows. Many of these wells were artesian and usually left uncapped, allowing the water to gush out at enormous rates. At the time, people simply thought the underground water supply was endless, even an early Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce brochure geared towards farmers touted Las Vegas as “the artesian belt of semi-tropic Nevada”. Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Brochure (ca. 1913) This mindset and the uncontrolled use of water resulted in the early depletion of the aquifer, and as the town grew, the Las Vegas Springs could not meet peak demands. By 1915, about 100 artesian wells were flowing in the valley. In 1923 the Las Vegas Land and Water Company drilled 'Well No. 1' near the Las Vegas Springs, and over the next few decades they would drill several more wells in the vicinity of the springs to help meet water demands as spring flows declined. One of these wells, ‘Well No. 5’, was drilled in 1941 only a few years prior to an ominous declaration from then State Engineer Alfred Merritt Smith. On November 3, 1944, he told the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce that “Las Vegas is running out of water” and informed them that “a new source of water must be found, or the growth of the community will be halted”. Two decades earlier, the Colorado River Compact of 1922 allocated a small amount of Colorado River water to Southern Nevada, however this allocation was hardly used. As Las Vegas’ population steadily grew, so did the demand for water, and overdraft of the underground aquifer worsened. In an effort to reduce groundwater withdrawals, the Las Vegas Valley Water District was created in 1947, in part to begin using the Colorado River allotment. However, from the 1940s through the 1960s, pumped groundwater was the primary source of water for the valley. By 1962, the Las Vegas Springs that were once a hallmark of the valley's geography, stopped flowing altogether. During this time the combined pumping of approximately 3,000 wells in the Las Vegas valley caused the groundwater level to decline at a rate of about two to four feet per year. By 1968, groundwater pumping had reached an all-time high of about 86,000 acre-feet per year. In 1971 the Southern Nevada Water System began delivery of Colorado River water from Lake Mead for municipal supply – 24 years after the water district was created. From the 1970’s through the 1980s, some reduction in groundwater production occurred when the Colorado River became the primary source of water for the valley. However, the rapid depletion of the aquifer over the decades resulted in another consequence - land subsidence. Groundwater withdrawal can adversely affect the sedimentary deposits that are present in many groundwater basins in the desert. Areas within the Las Vegas valley that have been heavily pumped and show large water level declines have also been sites of major elevation change, surface deformation, and damage, all of which can be clearly seen at ’Well No. 5’. Dean Goodale, DWR Well Supervisor, at Well 5 (1983) Between 1990 and 2011, the Colorado River and groundwater continued to supply the valley’s water, with the excess Colorado River water serving as the source of artificial recharge through an Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) program. Since 2011, water supply to the Las Vegas valley continues to be from the Colorado River and groundwater. In December 2004, the Nevada State Engineer issued In-Lieu Recharge Order No. 1176 allowing credit for pumping less than the permitted groundwater rights for municipal purveyors engaged in an active ASR program. This order allows 85 percent of the in-lieu credits to be recovered in the future, while 15 percent of the water remains in the aquifer. Today if you visit the site of the Las Vegas Springs site you will witness lush meadows, ample wildlife, and cottonwood trees aside a flowing creek. You might think that miraculously the springs are flowing again, however the water feeding this restored habitat is reclaimed water that it is circulated throughout the entire site. Now known as the Las Vegas Springs Preserve, restoration efforts began in 2000 with a previously unmanaged stormwater detention basin that has now been transformed into a desert wetlands area. The bubbling springs may be long gone, but the Las Vegas Springs Preserve has definitely returned Las Vegas to its namesake. (P.S. The photo of Dean Goodale at Well No. 5 in 1983 has always been a famous photo for us at SNBO, as well as the go-to image when anyone inquires about land subsidence. In 2018, 35 years later, I thought it would be fun to recreate the photo.) Dean Goodale at Well 5 (2018) Getting help from my production assistant Desiree Brantley (2018) .