LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Southern Nevada Water Authority officials knew they had a problem back in 2017.
That's when they detected a leak in the South Valley Lateral pipeline, which supplies a good chunk of the valley's drinking water.
Working with Henderson officials, they filled local reservoirs, allowing repair crews to shut off the water, dig up the line and fix the leak.
It took 10 days, but Henderson residents didn't notice a thing.
WATCH | After an act of Congress, Henderson will see new water pipeline
But if the South Valley Lateral had developed a bigger issue, everybody would have noticed.
The South Valley Lateral is the only pipeline in the water authority's system that doesn't currently have a backup, a situation officials knew they needed to fix.
That's how the Horizon Lateral pipeline idea was born.
But there was a big problem.
The most efficient, and least disruptive, route would have to go right through the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area. And the federal Bureau of Land Management wouldn't even look at the idea without permission from Congress.
That's how the Sloan Canyon Conservation and Lateral Pipeline Act came to be.
Introduced in the Senate by senior Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and the House by Congresswoman Dina Titus, the bill brought local officials and conservationists together. It went through ups and downs in Congress before finally passing by unanimous voice votes in both the House and Senate. After Gov. Joe Lombardo said he "advocated for this bill directly" to the White House, President Trump finally signed it into law.
The compromise: The $2 billion, 108-inch pipe will go underneath Sloan Canyon. And the conservation area will expand by nearly 9,300 acres.
Cortez Masto said this was the best option.
"When we were talking originally with the water authority, there were other options, and one of them was not going through Sloan," she said. "But it would have been very, very disruptive. It would cost more money. It would have been very disruptive to not just the residents who live here, but the businesses."
It's estimated the Sloan Canyon approached saved $200 million off the project, not to mention saving Henderson parks from being turned into staging areas for major, years-long construction.
Environmentalists said they were initially very concerned about the idea of tunneling under Sloan Canyon. "We probably had the same panic the first time that we saw the map, and so our first instinct was, like, let's ask all these questions, let's try to understand what this looks like," said Bertha Gutierrez, senior programs director for the Conservation Lands Foundation.
She said water authority officials answered those questions, including the steps that will be taken to leave Sloan Canyon undisturbed, save for some drilling for soil testing that will precede the tunnel. (Both the entrance and exit will be outside the conservation area's boundaries.)
Now, she says, the group is satisfied with the plan.
"Yes, but also we're here for the long run, so we're also here to continue the partnership as the work starts, right, and we're here to be able to hold the agency accountable in case something does happen," she said.
Environmental groups Channel 13 spoke with said their lingering concern had to do with development between southwestern Henderson and the state line. A new airport is planned for the Ivanpah Valley, along with potential related development.
Doa Ross, deputy general manager for engineering and operations for the water authority, said while the pipeline was always going to be needed, it will feature several flow control centers that could be connected to pipes to service future development.
"Anytime we install a pipeline, there's always the opportunity for additional service to be provided," she said. "How they choose to develop from within those areas is entirely up to them at the municipal level, but this pipe is primarily for the redundancy and reliability."
Congresswoman Dina Titus — who has championed public lands conservation from Red Rock Canyon to the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument — said she was concerned at first about the proposal.
"People came to me and said, 'Look, this is impacting your district, take a look at it.' And we studied it pretty hard, because just as you say, I'm concerned about water, more development and disturbing public lands, animals, petroglyphs, everything that should be in those areas," she said. "So all of that, after serious study, reassured me that this was needed and it would be okay."
Titus said it was a "great relief" when Trump finally signed the bill.
Water authority officials say preliminary work on the project will begin next year.
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