A major water leak in the Great Basin water system brought a chunk of Pahrump’s local government to a standstill on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, knocking out water service to several Nye County buildings and forcing in-person services to go dark for the day. Courts and public counters were closed, and the leak was strong enough to chew up the ground under Winery Road east of Highway 160, leading to a temporary road closure and on-the-spot repairs. While county employees pulled the plug on walk-up services, work crews and the utility scrambled to restore water and figure out just how much damage had been done.
According to KSNV, the county described the incident as a “major water leak” in the Great Basin Water Co. system that triggered a full outage at government facilities along Basin Avenue. The Ian Deutch Government Complex and the Nye County Sheriff’s Office were closed to the public, and offices including the county assessor, treasurer, recorder, Department of Emergency Management, information technology and the animal shelter all lost service. A county Facebook post, cited by KSNV, warned residents that water was not expected to be back on for several hours.
Who Runs the Water System
Local officials pinned the outage on a break in the Great Basin Water Co. system. Great Basin operates the Pahrump division as a private utility, according to the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada. The PUC lists contact details for Great Basin and serves as the state’s point of contact for customers who need to report outages or raise safety concerns.
Road Damage and Local Impact
Winery Road was shut down east of Highway 160 after the leak weakened the ground under the pavement, the county reported, a detail passed along by KSNV. County crews and Great Basin workers were on scene to fix the break and inspect the roadway before allowing traffic back through, a process that could tie up local travel and slow county services while the repairs play out.
Where to Get Updates
Nye County urged residents to keep an eye on official channels for the latest word on office reopenings and water service restoration, including the county website and its social media pages. For office locations, business hours and contact information, residents can visit Nye County.
