Marc Jensen, director of engineering for Southern Nevada Water Authority, told the Las Vegas Business Press this week that the costs of the pipeline are likely to be substantially higher than the agency has been telling the public.

[The pipeline's] $2 billion price-tag, meanwhile, is likely to be much higher once it breaks ground, Jensen admits, which could be as soon as 2010. "That was a figure first announced during a 2005 advisory planning meeting, but we've seen significant increases in concrete and steel and labor," Jensen added.

Jensen's comments come in an article about the agency's efforts to cut costs by using a design-build process for contracts in order to speed the construction of projects.