Intake System Improvements

Drawing water in through the intake system is the first process of the water treatment and transmission system.

The intake system projects include:

• Lake Mead Intake No. 2
• Lake Mead Intake No. 3
• Raw Water Pumping System
• River Mountains Aqueduct
• Low Lift Pumping Station

Lake Mead Intake No. 2

Completed in 2002, the Lake Mead Intake No. 2 is one of the cornerstone projects of the Water Authority's Capital Improvements Program. Located deep below the lake's surface, the intake draws in water for the River Mountains Water Treatment Facility in Henderson.

Water flows through the intake into a 1,600-foot-long and 14-foot-wide tunnel to a large, underground pumping forebay. From here, submerged pumps draw water through 22 well shafts.

The Bay Aqueduct under Boulder Bay delivers water from the intake pumping stations to a series of pumping stations that boost the water up through the River Mountains Tunnel and on to the River Mountains Water Treatment Facility.

Lake Mead Intake No. 3

This intake will both protect municipal water customers from water quality issues and reduced system capacity associated with declining lake levels. Intake No. 3 will maintain the SNWA's ability to draw upon Colorado River water at lake elevations as low as 1,000 feet above sea level, assuring system capacity if lake levels fell low enough to put Intake No. 1 out of service. Components include an intake tunnel, underground pumping forebay, pumping station, electrical power connections and a discharge pipeline to the Alfred Merritt Smith Water Treatment Facility. This project is scheduled for completion in 2013.

Raw Water Pumping System

The Raw Water Pumping System collects water from Lake Mead via the Intake No. 2. A series of pumping stations pump the water uphill through the River Mountains tunnel to the new River Mountains Water Treatment Facility, where the water is treated and sent through the distribution system.

The Raw Water Pumping System includes:

• 3 pumping stations
• Nearly 9 miles of pipe
• 83-foot tall surge tanks