Las Vegas drilled under Lake Mead for its water

“A pipe fixed to a rock wall sits at one height forever. The water does not. Drought has pulled Lake Mead’s elevation down by approximately 160 feet since 2000, and in April 2022 the drop left one of Southern Nevada’s primary intake pumping stations inoperable. Extending the existing intakes further down the wall does not answer it: they are pinned to rock under hundreds of feet of water, and whatever you bolt on is fixed at a new height the lake can also fall below. Drawing from the top does not answer it either — the surface is exactly what is disappearing, and the warm top layer is the worst water in the reservoir to treat. So the Southern Nevada Water Authority stopped reaching down the wall and went underneath the lake. Construction began in 2008. A 24-foot diameter tunnel boring machine excavated a tunnel under Lake Mead, connecting to an intake structure secured to the bottom of the lake with more than 1,000 truck-loads of concrete — an intake that comes up through the floor of the reservoir. Intake No. 3 began conveying water to the treatment facilities in September 2015, and it can draw Colorado River water at lake elevations below 1,000 feet. On 20 August 2026 the lake set a record low near 1,039 feet. #lakemead #lasvegas #water #engineering #civilengineering #tunneling #shorts”