New Straw Going Into Lake Mead

Work has begun on a new tunnel into the bottom of Lake Mead, the main water source for the Las Vegas Valley, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal. When completed, the tunnel will house the third—and deepest—water intake in the reservoir, allowing sufficient water to be withdrawn to meet demand even if the reservoir level drops below one of the shallower intakes . This is the second try at digging a new tunnel, as the first attempt failed after the tunnel drillers encountered a fault zone, which resulted in flooding.