Facility

Lake Mead Low Lake Level Pumping Station (SNWA)

Southern Nevada Water Authority's Low Lake Level Pumping Station (3-mile intake tunnel; completed 2015; $1.4B construction cost) is a bedrock tunnel drilled through the Nevada side of Lake Mead's basin to allow water intake at lake elevations as low as 895 feet — just above the dead pool threshold where no water exits the dam. Previously, SNWA's Intake No. 1 (built 1971) would be stranded above the waterline at approximately 1,000 feet elevation. The Low Lake Level Pump Station was drilled in direct anticipation of Lake Mead declining to critically low levels. It is the engineering manifestation of Las Vegas explicitly planning for the Colorado River to fall to near-empty. SNWA also has Intake No. 2 (2011) providing redundancy at 1,000 feet. Source: https://www.snwa.com/env_planning/low_lake_level_pumping_station.html