A model for growth: North Las Vegas teams with SNWA on piping water to Apex, recycling wastewater

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — North Las Vegas and the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) are partnering to make sure an important industrial park will have the water it needs to continue growing.

Long seen as land where manufacturing could flourish and help diversify Nevada’s economy, the Apex Industrial Park is 26 miles northeast of the Las Vegas valley on Interstate 15. And now a major project supplying water to support growth is moving forward.

“This is probably the biggest thing that’s happened in North Las Vegas since the charter in the 1940s,” according to former North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, who spoke at a Tuesday groundbreaking ceremony.

It’s the key piece in attracting $7 billion in new investments at Apex and Garnet Valley. Current North Las Vegas Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown listed some of the companies at Apex, ranging from footwear giant Crocs to Air Liquide, which built the world’s first large-scale liquid hydrogen plant at Apex.

“This is a way that we could build a new tax base without taxing our residents,” explained Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown, of the City of North Las Vegas. “Prologis has lots of acres out here they are going to develop and we have others on board that are going to develop at a later time.”

The Garnet Valley transmission line, which broke ground on Tuesday, carries an estimated cost of “$280-plus million,” according to Jared Luke, senior director of government affairs and economic development for North Las Vegas.

The money is coming from SNWA, which raises money for such projects through an infrastructure charge.

The project will pump water to Apex, which is about 400 feet higher than the Las Vegas valley, and treated wastewater will be returned to the valley in another pipe. The recycled water will eventually reach Lake Mead, where Nevada will get credit for water returned to the reservoir.

SNWA General Manager John Entsminger said he is proud that the project is being built with community funding. But he said he is more proud that it’s a sustainable solution.

“It’s not just this water line. It’s 14,000 feet of 24-inch line that should be done by September of this year. But it’s also a wastewater line going back to the valley,” Entsminger said.

“SNWA has never built a wastewater line,” he said.

It’s an extraordinary step that will lay the groundwork for growth without continuing to suck groundwater from wells. And it’s a model for others to follow.

“So North Las Vegas is leading the way with this project because the same exact principles are going to apply if the county wants to do their supplemental airport and grow down the I-15 corridor, if Henderson wants to expand into the Eldorado Valley,” Entsminger said. “That wastewater’s always got to come back.”

Through a drought that’s now entering its 24th year, SNWA has shown that recycling is more than just a good conservation practice. Building infrastructure to recycle water used indoors continues to be an important part of facilitating growth in Las Vegas.

On Tuesday, Entsminger, Goynes-Brown, Lee and North Las Vegas City Manager Ryan Juden each recounted parts of the evolution at Apex, telling a story that’s more than two decades in the making.

Adding an interchange at I-15 and U.S. 93 was a big step. U.S. 93 used to be a two-lane road north of I-15, but now it’s two lanes in each direction and can handle industrial traffic. That cost about $58 million.

Now, I-15 is going through major work that won’t wrap up until the fall.

Development at Apex was always a goal, but water was a challenge.

“We realized that if Apex was really going to take off, we needed water,” according to Luke.

Officials didn’t find a solution until Chinese electric carmaker Faraday Future came into the picture. When that deal ultimately fell through, North Las Vegas didn’t stop working on a water solution.

Once completely built out, Apex is expected to create 73,000 new jobs and $7 billion dollars of investment over the next 20 years, adding revenue that the city will be able to put back into police, parks, roads, libraries and other services for residents.

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