Increased demand for water, coupled with a prolonged drought, has caused water levels at Lake Mead to drop significantly in recent years. Located 20 miles southeast of Las Vegas, this reservoir created by the Hoover Dam provides water for users in Nevada, Southern California, Arizona, and Mexico. As the lake level has dropped, the Southern Nevada Water Authority, with jurisdiction over collection work from the reservoir, has constructed a series of intakes to withdraw water from different depths. Barnard of Nevada recently completed the Lake Mead Intake No. 2 Connection and Modifications Project, a project that connects the existing Intake No. 2 with an even deeper Intake No. 3, currently under construction.

This two-year project involved drill and blast excavation of a 380-foot-deep, 25-foot-diameter shaft in hard rock as well as conventional excavation of a 570 LF modified horseshoe tunnel 16 feet high by 14 feet wide. Also included were the installation of a complex isolation gate, guides and electrically driven gate hoist; installation of 24-inch steel potable water pipe; construction of a concrete masonry unit building with removable roof; installation of a titanium chemical feed line and distribution ring; and marine modification to an existing intake, including a new plug, manhole cover, and rock deflector in water up to 180 feet deep.