Advisory board faced with finding a cleanup plan

Thursday, Aug. 21, 1997 | 9:21 a.m.

Worried residents want the rocket fuel chemical perchlorate, high bacteria levels and toxins removed from Lake Mead, Southern Nevada's major source of drinking water.

They told a new 21-member citizens advisory group launched by the Southern Nevada Water Authority Wednesday to find the pollution sources and remove them.

A physician, three attorneys, environmentalists, fishermen, a marina owner, a chemist, an architect, a Southern Nevada Homebuilders Association representative and the Nevada Taxpayers Association sit on the panel.

It may take the group up to 15 months to create a policy or plan to protect Southern Nevada's water quality, plagued by numerous problems -- from algae blooms to cryptosporidium.

The recent finding that Las Vegas Wash water contained 1,000 parts per billion or higher of perchlorate, a chemical from rocket fuel and explosives, has alarmed the public -- with good reason, said Robert Hall, president of the Nevada Environmental Coalition.

"Perchlorate should not be in drinking water," Hall said, since it interferes with growth through the thyroid gland and attacks bone marrow.

The guideline set by California at 18 parts per billion was "picked out of thin air," he said.

Although raw and treated drinking water tested by the Southern Nevada Water Authority is below that guideline, environmental and health officials from the federal, state and local levels started a united investigation of the chemical.

But to some serving on the committee, the problems are well known. What's needed, said biologist Larry Paulson, are solutions.

"We've talked about restoring wetlands for 20 years, and the same for reusing waste water," Paulson said.

The committee needs to define a comprehensive plan, he suggested, including more wetlands to remove pollutants or dispersing wastewater farther out in Lake Mead.

"Then again, maybe we can't protect the water," he said. In that case, water officials may have to move the two intake pipes located at Saddle Island, only six miles downstream of the point where Las Vegas Wash flows into Lake Mead.

Ken Mahal, executive director of the Nevada Seniors Coalition, agreed, saying there should be a new fresh water intake "even if you have to go 25 miles up the lake."

Mahal said independent scientists should test wastewater flows going into the Las Vegas Wash, and the public should have an inventory for sewage and water treatment facilities and know the quality of storm water running into the lake.

Rick Nielsen, executive director of Citizens Alert, who was not chosen to serve on the committee, said the committee needs to tackle urgent problems before December.

"The problems are going to continue to escalate," Nielsen said.