February 18, 2008--MX missile project wells monitor Nev. groundwater (KOLO News)
Decades old exploratory wells drilled as part of the failed MX missile project are being used to monitor ground water in the Southern Nevada Water Authority's plan to tap groundwater in eastern Nevada. The authority is using data from the old wells as it presses for federal and state permission to build a massive pipeline network into rural areas of Clark, Lincoln and White Pine counties. In 1979, the U.S. military planned was to hide an arsenal of mobile nuclear missiles in the Nevada desert. Though the project quickly collapsed, hundreds of exploratory wells were drilled across the region in search of water for the effort. The SNWA now has teamed with the U.S. Geological Survey and Nevada Division of Water Resources to take periodic measurements from about 40 MX wells. Some of the holes have been fitted with equipment to monitor them continuously.
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