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UNDERGROUND LEAKAGE FROM ARTESIAN WELLS NEAR LAS VEGAS, NEVADA By Penn. Livingston Introduction Purpose of the investigation.- In response to a request from Alfred Merritt Smith, State Engineer of Nevada, to the Director of the Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior, the writer whs assigned to make a brief investigation of the underground leakage from artesian wells in the vicinity of Las Vegas, Nevada. The project was financed in part by contributions from Clark County, and the City of Las Vegas. It was thought by some people in Las Vegas that the under­ground leakage from artesian wells -is very large and that the decrease in the artesian pressure that has been taking place from year to year is due largely to this underground leakage. One of the first steps in a conservation program, therefore, was a survey to determine the magnitude of the underground leakage. The field work, which was carried on from August 11 to September 13, 1938, consisted mainly of exploring wells with the deep-well current meter, but included also measuring the discharge from flowing wells and determining their artesian pressures, and making measurements of depths to water levels in wells that do not overflow.