Contractor will pre-wet desert to hold dust down

Monday, April 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Thousands of feet of sprinkler heads have sprouted in the desert near Horizon Ridge Parkway between U.S. 95 and Gibson Road.

It's not another golf course, according to Douglas Selby, engineering director for the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Instead, the sprinklers will dampen 27 miles of desert to keep from turning the drinking water pipeline route into a dust bowl this summer, he said.

While the water authority and conservation groups urge residents to conserve water use outside, there's a method to the madness of pouring water on bare desert.

Using the technique called pre-wetting, Lake Mead Constructors plans to soak the desert before they dig. Dirt then forms a slightly damp brown mass, instead of choking clouds of fine dust particles.

"This is a method of dust control our contractor has used in other states, and so far it seems to be working here," Selby said.

Lake Mead Constructors began using the sprinklers after they received two water authority contracts to complete delivery pipes along the South Valley Lateral route. The new line will bring drinking water from Lake Mead to a reservoir in Henderson and one in unincorporated Clark County.

"This helps reduce the impact of our construction on nearby neighbors, as well as the rest of the valley's citizens," Selby said.

The $568 million project will build water improvements through 1999, and the sprinklers will stay ahead of construction crews along the 20-foot-wide pipeline route.

"With this pre-wetting approach, the contractor can limit the need to spray water on active construction," Selby said.

The Clark County Health District's Air Pollution Control Division confirmed Lake Mead Contractors has a permit to disturb soil, but the permit isn't the major point. It's how effectively a contractor keeps the dust down that counts.