About Moapa

 A major element in the history of any settlement in the desert Southwest is water. In the hot, rocky landscape of the Mojave Desert, human settlement would be impossible without an adequate water supply. This is certainly true of the Moapa Valley. The green ribbon of marshes which lies on either side of the Muddy River as it stretches across the arid desert has been a welcome site to human settlers for centuries.

The source of water for the Moapa Valley is the network of artesian springs which bubble up from a deep underground source onto the green grasslands in the upper area of the valley known as Warm Springs. This spring water runs down the valley through the Muddy River until it eventually flows into Lake Mead and there joins the Colorado River system.

The early pioneer settlers to the area developed a complex system of irrigation ditches to bring water from the river to water their crops. These settlers also used the water from these irrigation ditches for culinary purposes. They stored water in barrels near their homes or in large underground concrete cisterns.

Ditchwater, however, was probably not the best for drinking. So around 1930, the Union Pacific Railroad began allowing local farmers in the Logandale area to fill cans of water from a tank brought in by train for the railroad section crew. Folks would go to the Logandale Section House located at the west end of Liston Avenue to fill up their containers with drinking water. This practice continued for about twenty years.

During these early days, rudimentary household water delivery systems were developed in the Moapa Valley. In 1929 the first concrete settling tank was constructed in Overton followed by a second settling tank being constructed in Logandale around 1937. Water was pumped from irrigation ditches into these tanks. After the particulate matter was allowed to settle, the water flowed out through low-pressure lines to the various homes in the communities.

Organizations were eventually formed to manage and improve these systems. The Overton Water District was established in 1954. It’s founding board members were Mack Lyon, Bob Waymire, Wallace Jones and Sy Porter; with Secretary, Wayne Robertson.

A second organization was formed a couple of years later to service the communities north of the Overton District. This organization was called the Moapa Valley Water Company. Its founding board members were Reuben Whipple, Mac McCormick, Grant Bowler, Dell Robison and Edwin Wells; with Elaine Whipple as secretary.

In 1960 a joint agreement was made between these two entities to contract, operate and maintain a valley-wide culinary water system. This system would bring water from Warm Springs all the way through the valley to all the households in the community.

A small spring on a hillside at Taylor’s Ranch in Warm Springs was selected as the source of water for the system. Local resident, Francis Taylor was very interested in this project. He deeded the one acre of land where the spring was located to the joint operating entities. Surveys were done and plans were made for a seventeen mile flow line to be constructed from that site throughout the valley.

Almost immediately there were problems with the new line. The low-pressure line was built out of 8” thin-wall plastic pipe. Breaks in the line began to occur even before the system was put into service.

Then, only a month later, disaster struck. On November 6, 1960, before the system had even been fully placed in operation, a flood destroyed 4200 feet of the line above Wells Siding north of Logandale. This set the project back for a couple of years. Additional funding had to be secured and large portions of the pipeline had to be replaced with better quality pipe.

In 1961, Logandale resident and Moapa Valley native Jay Whipple was hired as the general manager of the two water companies.

During the ensuing years, Jay oversaw the replacement, update and repair of much of the old system. A new, larger pipeline was eventually constructed from Warm Springs. In the mid-1970s, the portion of the water line that passed through the Muddy River narrows above Logandale was rerouted out of the riverbed and up over the hill along the power lines. This prevented the line from being washed out again by floods. Also a back-up water supply was developed from a well on Wells Avenue in Logandale. The well water was considered too hard to drink, but it was used as a backup when service went down in the main line from Warm Springs.

The Moapa Valley Water company started with about 175-180 customers. The Overton Water District had around 200 customers.
The Moapa Valley Water District (MVWD) was established under the Nevada Revised Statutes on July 22, 1983. By that time, culinary water management in the Moapa Valley had become a more established operation than it had been in the early days