New water pipeline may travel under Sloan Canyon

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., will introduce legislation Thursday to push forward a proposed water pipeline project that would go underground through Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority’s Horizon Lateral 30-to-40-mile water pipeline project would have the capacity to carry 375 million gallons of water per day to Henderson and the southern Las Vegas Valley. The pipeline would work in tandem with the only other pipeline that serves Henderson residents and would provide a safeguard in case of leaks.

Because the proposed route of the pipeline is on federal land, Cortez Masto’s legislation would facilitate the permitting process for the water authority.

Her legislation also would increase the size of the national conservation area by more than 9,000 acres, on the southwestern portion of the area next to Hidden Valley, bringing its total size to 57,728 acres.

“Innovative projects like the Horizon Lateral pipeline could protect water access for more than a million Nevadans and ensure Las Vegas has sustainable, reliable water infrastructure,” said Cortez Masto in a statement Wednesday.

The pipeline would bring water from the River Mountains water treatment facility and move it west to the water authority’s Sloan and Cactus stations. The water authority’s preferred route for the pipeline would go through mostly undeveloped areas, under the Sloan Canyon and Black Mountain area, according to the authority’s website.

Another route would be constructed through portions of Henderson’s streets, such as Horizon Ridge, St. Rose and Paseo Verde parkways, but it would cost an additional $200 million to build and cause road closures.

The pipeline is expected to cost between $2 billion to $2.5 billion. It will be funded through the water authority’s infrastructure and commodity charges paid by all Southern Nevada water users, but residents’ water bills are not expected to increase as a result.

The project has been in the works since around 2019. Although there’s not a tight timeline, once the water authority receives the go-ahead from the federal government, there will be two years of permitting and design engineering for the project, followed by two years of construction activity.

One 27-mile water pipeline currently serves Henderson and southern valley residents. The Horizon Lateral project would add “redundancy” to the water systems, which would provide more reliability of water delivery.

In 2017, there was a leak on the southern valley lateral pipeline, causing the water authority to shut down a portion of the pipeline. The city of Henderson had to change its routing options in order to keep providing water to residents and businesses. The Horizon Lateral pipeline would serve as a “secondary feed” so that the two pipelines would work in tandem. That way, if one needs to be turned off, the other can continue serving the 1 million people who use it, said Bronson Mack, public information officer with the water authority.

“In addition to water conservation, protecting and enhancing water infrastructure is paramount,” said Southern Nevada Water Authority general manager John Entsminger in a statement. “And this legislation helps ensure Southern Nevada’s regional water system has the necessary capacity and redundancy to not only meet the needs of today, but also the challenges of tomorrow.”

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on Twitter.