Complaint filed over water use plan

Friday, Dec. 18, 1998 | 11:25 a.m.

A Las Vegas civil engineer, alarmed at the city's plan to use treated wastewater to irrigate golf courses in the northwest valley, has filed a complaint with the state engineer's office.

City and state officials said Wednesday that the project to recycle waste water and store it in a concrete tank underground near Gowan Street and Cheyenne Avenue is on course and will have the necessary permits.

State Engineer Michael Turnipseed said his office will hear Richard Willer's complaint, but no date has been set.

Willer said he fears the treated water will contaminate ground water and eventually the drinking water supply drawn from Lake Mead.

"I think it's ludicrous that the city or the state would put effluent into the water supply," Willer said.

The stored water will be highly treated before being used to irrigate golf courses and it will be blended with water supplied and treated from the Colorado River, Charles Kajkowski Jr, a city planning engineer.

"The water going into that tank is treated well enough to touch," Kajkowski said.

The treated waste water will not go into the ground and it does not pose a threat to six nearby wells, Kajkowski said.

The water recycling plant will one day produce 10 million gallons a day of water, he said. The northwest's demand for irrigation water, once the northwest valley is fully built, will reach 20 million gallons a day during hot Julys.

The city has already applied for a permit to use the water for turf irrigation from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Kajkowski said.

The city is working as a partner with the Las Vegas Valley Water District on ways to conserve the rapidly growing area's scarce drinking water supply.

Kajkowski noted that Florida, Arizona and California all use treated wastewater. So do three golf courses in Henderson.

"We need a way to conserve high grade water for drinking," he said. By treating waste water in the northwest, the water district and the city will save consumers money.