Is Elon Musk’s Boring Co. ‘poisoning’ Las Vegas’ drinking water? Here’s what we found out
While it’s true that the Boring Co. is feeling the heat from regulators after illegally dumping toxic chemicals into manholes, officials say Southern Nevadans have nothing to worry about when they turn on their taps.
“This is not poisoning our drinking water,” said Bronson Mack, a spokesman for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, in a Friday interview. “We have robust water quality monitoring activities and state-of-the-art drinking water treatment systems that help ensure that issues like this do not negatively affect the drinking water coming out of the taps of residents and businesses.”
An investigation from Fortune released on Wednesday focused on the Boring Co., billionaire Elon Musk’s company that is building the Vegas Loop, an underground network of tunnels near the Strip.
In addition to new details about workplace safety fines levied — and later dropped — after complaints about chemical burns, it provided a concerning view of run-ins with regulators from the Clark County Reclamation District.
The company, according to the district, dumped wastewater down manholes around the valley, leading to hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines from the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection.
But a video circulating on TikTok and Instagram Reels, with 184,000 views and counting, has some confused about whether they should be concerned about the water they drink at home.
Understanding how water gets delivered
The answer is a resounding no.
The Clark County Water Reclamation District deals with treating wastewater at its facilities, sending millions of gallons of water each day into the Las Vegas Wash that leads into Lake Mead, the source of about 90 percent of the region’s water. Any water that is discharged must meet high federal and state quality standards, under the federal Clean Water Act and state permits.
Some of the wastewater could have made it into county storm drains and into the lake, Mack said. But it would be no more than a drop in a big bucket.
“It wouldn’t have any direct impact on the quality of the water in Lake Mead, just because of the size,” he said. “You get a dilution factor that happens there. We have not seen any changes in water quality, either in Lake Mead from our monitoring activities or on the drinking water side.”
The remaining part of the region’s water comes from deep groundwater aquifers to meet peak demands.
Some news reports Thursday raised questions about a suspicious greenish pool of water near the former site of the Firefly Tapas Kitchen &Bar on Paradise Road, but Mack said it was likely shallow groundwater that is not used for any drinking supply purposes.
In addition to testing and treatment of wastewater before it goes into the wash, water goes through rigid testing after it’s drawn from Lake Mead. Before it’s sent to people’s homes, it’s tested and treated again, Mack said.
“Our water treatment system would be able to manage any contaminants that we see within Lake Mead,” Mack said. “We don’t view that there is any threat to drinking water.”
Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.
