Southern Nevada Water System

The Southern Nevada Water System (SNWS) refers to the system of treatment and distribution facilities that diverts raw Colorado River water from Lake Mead and delivers potable water to Southern Nevada's municipal water providers.

Water is treated at the Alfred Merritt Smith Water Treatment Facility, located on the shores of Lake Mead, and also at the River Mountains Water Treatment Facility, located in Henderson.

SNWS History

SNWS was developed after water providers and local governments agreed in the 1950s that additional water supplies needed to be tapped to satisfy Southern Nevada's burgeoning growth. At the time, the valley relied on groundwater.

Nevada was entitled to 300,000 acre-feet of water each year from the Colorado River but had not yet taken advantage of this allotment.

The Colorado River Commission (CRC), working closely with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, conceived an ambitious plan to develop a water delivery and treatment system—the Southern Nevada Water Project. Nevada was not financially prepared to take on such an expensive project, so the CRC entered into an agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation to build part of the new system as a federal water project.

The federal government built the delivery portion of the project, including a pipeline and pumping stations. This portion was called the Southern Nevada Water Project, and it was renamed the Robert B. Griffith Water Project in 1982.

Meanwhile, the state built and paid for the Alfred Merritt Smith Water Treatment Facility. These two projects comprise the Southern Nevada Water System.

Construction began in 1968, and the system began operations in 1971. A second construction phase began in 1977 and was completed in the early 1980s. Additional capital improvements were made in the 1990s, increasing the treatment and delivery of water up to 600 million gallons each day.

The federal government transferred ownership of the Robert B. Griffith Water Project to SNWA on July 3, 2001. The historic transfer, which cost $121.2 million, will save Southern Nevadans an estimated $13 million. It also gives the Water Authority more control over the facilities it operates and relieves the federal government of liabilities associated with ownership.