NLV’s wastewater plan misses boat

Stan Nudelman, North Las Vegas

Friday, Jan. 6, 2012 | 2:01 a.m.

Joe Schoenmann’s article, “Sloan Channel issue ‘bugs’ nearby homeowners,” describes the problems arising from the release of water down the Sloan Channel from the new North Las Vegas water treatment plant. In addition to the so-called environmental problems, Schoenmann also delves into the political wrangling between North Las Vegas and the Clark County Commission over who pays for what.

This retired biology teacher just shakes his head in wonderment and dismay at the lack of clear thinking that went into this water treatment project. No thinking outside the box here.

Let me explain: We live in a desert, don’t you know? That stuff you’re tossing down the Sloan Channel is liquid gold. Water means life on this planet, and we toss it away? Why not keep it in our own community?

Did North Las Vegas explore what else it could have done with that constant effluent?

How about diverting it from the channel and creating a series of landscaped areas with holding ponds surrounded by park land? North Las Vegas could have created its own Tule Springs.

How do you pay for that? With that constant flow, North Las Vegas could have built an agricultural, moneymaking community. Israel has done this for years. Provide land and water incentives to agriculture and they will invest.

Instead of taking advantage of a precious commodity, dry North Las Vegas is wrapped up in litigation and politics, and the Sloan Channel is wet with problems.