Water-pollution control plan pursued

The Southern Nevada Water Authority Board accepted advice from a citizens committee and promised to take immediate action on a master plan for saving the valley's water from a growing threat of pollution fueled by growth.

The rocket fuel booster perchlorate, high levels of bacteria after storms, chemicals that disrupt sexual function in fish and 43 residents who died from a single-celled organism called cryptosporidiosis prompted the board to form the advisory committee.

The 22-member Citizens Advisory Committee on Water Quality has worked since July to define problems and recommend solutions. The committee presented an 11-page report to the board on Thursday.

The board unanimously approved the report, directing staff to begin work on a comprehensive water management plan. The board plans to begin taking action in July and continued the citizens committee's role in advising the water authority.

The committee recommended that the Southern Nevada Water Authority take charge of water management. Committee members met 17 times over the past year and said they learned how complex the pollution problems are facing Southern Nevada.

"We -- Clark County -- are considered the worst polluter among the seven Colorado River states," committee member Dalton Wellman said. The Las Vegas Valley receives most of its drinking water from the Colorado River water through Lake Mead. Flows returned to the river supply 21 million people downstream.

The committee recommended restoring wetlands as natural filters to help restore public confidence in the valley's water quality. The theme of allowing the wetlands to recover ran like a thread through the report.

The entire valley -- its ground water, flood runoff and treated sewage -- all enter the lake through the Las Vegas Wash. From more than 2,000 acres of marsh 20 years ago, the wetlands contain less than 200 acres today.

Committee member John Wanderer summed up the group's intent of the need for a master agency for getting and disposing of the valley's water. The wash, he said, is "pure devastation, contributing to the contamination of the lake."

A $13 million bond for Clark County to build a wetlands park is not enough, said committee member Norma Cox, also a member of the Friends of the Desert Wetlands Park.

The channels eroded up to 60 feet in some parts of the wash have allowed a mixture of pollutants to enter the drinking water supply, biologist Larry Paulson, another committee member, said. "This is a serious and long-standing problem and will be for years to come."

archive