Monday, Aug. 31, 1998 | 10:42 a.m.
State and local environmental officials fear development at the edge of the Las Vegas Wash could send ground water laced with pesticides, herbicides and radiation into the valley's supply of drinking water unless action is taken.
Henderson and Nevada Division of Environmental Protection investigators inspected the area in Henderson last week where Rhodes Homes is building an 18-hole golf course and homes for 5,000 people on 530 acres of land.
Officials said the developer needs at least two more permits to continue development.
Henderson had granted Rhodes a restricted permit to grade on its property, but the developer has trespassed on federal Bureau of Reclamation land, said Curt Chandler, the city's flood-control manager.
"Obviously it's illegal if they're blading on federal land," Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Bob Walsh said. The bureau investigates such issues on a case-by-case basis. "It may not be all that unusual. Sometimes people don't read maps. Sometimes the boundaries are not well known."
Rhodes also needs a plan to manage floodwaters on the property next to the old Henderson landfill, NDEP Water Quality Supervisor Jim Williams said. After development, a heavy rainstorm could send contaminated waters directly into the wash, he said.
Since ground water diverted on the Rhodes property is not yet flowing into the Las Vegas Wash, which leads to Southern Nevada's drinking supply, Rhodes does not need a state discharge permit at this time, Williams said.
However, the Rhodes plan calls for draining the property to build the golf course. The state has not seen the developer's plans to handle the ground water, Williams said.
Paul Kenner, Rhodes director for land development, said the company is applying for the permits this week.
While installing a channel to drain the ground water from the golf course site, "we exposed the ground water," Kenner said. Rhodes plans to water the course with recycled water.
Biologist Larry Paulson, a member of the Lake Mead Water Quality Forum, said Rhodes should capture the water on its site and put it in a lined pond for watering the future turf.
Ground water has seeped to the surface in that area for years, said Paulson, who did research on local waters at UNLV for years.
"They need to find out what contaminants are in that water, pesticides, herbicides and anything radioactive," Paulson said. All water in the valley drains into the Las Vegas Wash.
In fact, the state has known for years about the low levels of chemical contamination and radioactivity in the area. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency surveyed the area in the early 1980s and discovered contamination in the ground water and soil. In the past radioactive ore had been used at the Basic Management Industrial complex.
"If water from the golf course drains into the wash, there needs to be a rigorous monitoring program," Paulson said. "I am not against developing along the wash, but it has to be done right."
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