Saturday, March 8, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
DURING the 1950s and early 1960s the depletion of our groundwater supply in Clark County lowered the valley floor several feet. No longer did artesian wells bubble, and even the old-style hand pumps and water pipes stuck up out of the receding ground more than a few feet. Some developers and hotel people recognized the problem but few were willing to put an end to the cause. Dollars were more important than the environment.
Later we tapped the water from Lake Mead and everybody forgot about the damage we had brought upon ourselves and future residents. Our next move was to destroy the wetlands between here and Lake Mead, and only during the past few years have we come to recognize the almost irreparable damage we have done.
Luckily something can be done to restore the wetlands, and former state Sen. Hal Smith, R-Henderson, took the first step by fighting for an appropriation for this work. Since then, very little has been accomplished, but a group called Friends of Desert Wetlands Park hasn't allowed its dreams to vanish. Now they are seeking additional money to continue the first phase of work the state has funded with $13 million. They want a complete desert wetlands park for people to enjoy and learn from. Wetlands are a valuable asset to both man and beast.
I can recall when the marshland near Henderson was loaded with migratory birds, coyotes and kit fox. Some of my students at Basic High School used to hunt ducks down there before coming to class in the morning.
So now we want to spend millions of dollars to restore a wetland for kids to hunt ducks and for foxes and coyotes to play? Well, there's much more to it than that. It's about the water we get from Lake Mead which is now being polluted by waste and other chemicals which would have been removed running through a marsh as it did in the past. It's also about a place where people can enjoy themselves and at the same time appreciate the special value of a wetlands in our desert.
Mary Manning, one of our nation's finest environmentalists and longtime SUN reporter, recently spelled out the problem and the solution when writing, "A 2,000-acre ribbon of wetlands once snaked across the eastern edge of the Las Vegas Valley, a marsh in a barren desert bowl.
"Today, a few hundred acres of that marsh remain, most of them washed away by turbulent storm waters rampaging across the valley and swift-moving runoff produced by the area's rapid growth.
"As a result, the Las Vegas Wash's ability to naturally cleanse the waste and storm waters flowing out of the valley and into Lake Mead has diminished.
"A polluted plume running through the wash and into the lake has alarmed scientists because of high bacteria counts and mysterious organic chemicals."
Manning went on to point out, "As waters flow through the wash's channels, anything in their path, including soils, cattails and other marsh plants, head downstream. Other reports told city and county officials that the marsh did a better job of cleaning up wastewater than the Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant built by the county for $53 million.
"However, officials have largely ignored any kind of dams or erosion control because they want to squeeze every drop of Colorado River water used, treated and returned to Lake Mead. The more water Nevada returns to the river, the more it can draw out to accommodate growth."
Not only will wetlands improve the quality of our drinking water from Lake Mead they also purify water returning to the ground supply. These marshes are water purifiers and absorb large quantities of pollutants. They will also stabilize the damage and stop the erosion we have allowed storms and water discharges to do to the area.
Restoring the Las Vegas Wash wetlands and adding the value of a park is a dream that all of us should support the Friends of Desert Wetlands Park in achieving. It's our drinking water and our environment. The good thing about the damage we have allowed to happen is that it can be repaired and our wetlands can be brought back to life. Unlike some ecological damage man has created, this can be turned around and again become a useful and pleasant wetlands in but a few years.
The damage we have done has been recognized by the state, county, Southern Nevada Water Authority, Nevada Department of Wildlife, U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service. All of them working together, with an alert citizenry, should produce a wetlands that we can all be proud of and benefit from someday. Maybe, just maybe, we can expect good tasting and safe water from Lake Mead. After all, not everybody can afford bottled drinking water.
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