LAS VEGAS—One of Southern Nevada’s longest-running private water companies has gone under financially amid the region’s worsening drought.
The Basic Water Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early September with roughly $50 million in reported assets and more than $7 million in bond debt.
On July 1, the company ceased operations when the Lake Mead reservoir reached “Failure Level” at 1,043 feet, causing a 40-inch diameter intake pipe at Saddle Island to fail.
The company said it could no longer pump water to the city of Henderson, population 291,346, and four commercial industries as the company had done for decades.
A formerly sunken boat sits on cracked earth hundreds of feet from the shoreline at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area on May 10, 2022, near Boulder City, Nev. (John Locher/AP)
In a 27-page declaration filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Las Vegas, BWC president and chief financial officer Stephanne Zimmerman said the company could not meet its contractual obligations with its customers….