How water gets to your faucet
The Las Vegas Valley water system consists of a complex network of pipes, pumps, and reservoirs that work in harmony to connect more than 370,000 homes and businesses in our community.
Water pipelines, which can be larger than 8 feet or smaller than an inch in diameter, form the backbone of water distribution around the Las Vegas Valley, carrying water to buildings, fire hydrants, and other water use points.
Strategically situated throughout the valley are:
- 84 reservoir basins and tanks that collectively hold nearly a billion gallons of water.
- 54 pumping stations with the capacity to move more than 1 million gallons of water per minute.
- More than 7,000 miles of water transmission and distribution pipelines.
- 76 production wells and 26 recharge wells capable of producing more than 200 million gallons of water per day.
- More than 40,000 fire hydrants operated and maintained in collaboration with the Clark County and City of Las Vegas fire departments.
The Las Vegas Valley Water District manages this complex water distribution system to deliver water to more than 1.7 million people in Las Vegas and surrounding areas.
Every day, millions of gallons of water are delivered throughout the Las Vegas Valley. Through continued conservation and investments, your dollars help the Water District meet water demands even during extreme drought conditions.
Our service area includes metropolitan Las Vegas, areas of unincorporated Clark County, Blue Diamond, Coyote Springs, Jean, Kyle Canyon, Laughlin (Big Bend Water District), and Searchlight. The Water District manages additional facilities and infrastructure to serve these outlying areas.
Investing in one of the nation's most reliable water systems
For more than a half century, the Water District and its customers have been investing in one of the nation's most reliable water delivery systems.
That investment has paid off. Instances of water main breaks in Southern Nevada are below the national average and our water system has an efficiency rating that is considered world-class.
Ensuring that our water delivery network remains among the nation’s most reliable requires proactive maintenance.
The Water District invests millions to maintain, upgrade and expand the community’s drinking water system. This investment in the water distribution system keeps costs down and saves our community many millions of dollars, as proactively taking action is cheaper and less disruptive to residents than fixing water system failures.
State-of-the-art technology
Our state-of-the-art technology ensures water safely and reliably makes it to your tap and alerts us to leaks in our distribution system, including:
- An advanced operational network (SCADA)
- Programs that collect near real-time water data (AMI)
- A virtual modeling system that prevents leaks
Lake Mead Infrastructure
Ongoing drought conditions in the Colorado River Basin have caused Lake Mead's elevation to fall more than 150 feet since 2000. The Southern Nevada Water Authority's low lake level pumping station ensures Southern Nevada can access water supplies below Lake Mead's "dead pool" elevation of 895 feet—the point at which no water can pass through Hoover Dam to generate power or meet downstream water demands in California, Arizona or Mexico.
Storing and pumping water around the valley
After water from Lake Mead (the source of most of Southern Nevada's drinking water) has been treated, it's pumped uphill to reservoirs throughout the valley. These reservoirs store the water until it's needed.
High-power pumps at pumping stations force water from the reservoirs to transmission pipelines, usually at night when the cost of power is less.
Major transmission mains move water from treatment plants and reservoirs, and, finally, gravity delivers water through distribution pipelines to your home or business.
Groundwater wells support peak demand
Wells are used to tap into our groundwater supply, mainly during summer periods of peak usage. They also are available for emergencies.
During some winters, treated Colorado River water is injected into the local aquifer, where it is stored for Southern Nevada's future use. This artificial recharge gives nature a helping hand in maintaining our groundwater supply.
Wells can pump anywhere between 400 and 4,000 gallons of water per minute. Combined, our 66 operational production wells can produce approximately 170 million gallons of water per day.
For more information about the groundwater wells maintained by the Las Vegas Valley Water District, as well as personal or community wells, visit the Las Vegas Valley Groundwater Management Program website, LasVegasGMP.com.
You can help!
Ensure that not a single drop of the water that makes its way to your faucet is wasted by following these indoor conservation tips.