New panel puts LV Wash water quality improvement on fast track

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 1998 | 12:04 p.m.

Alarmed at the threat to Colorado River drinking water, a new committee representing federal, state and local Nevada agencies plans to launch activities to clean up the waters of the Las Vegas Wash within six months.

The Las Vegas Wash Coordination Committee met at the Henderson Convention Center for the first time Tuesday and decided to study ground water, impacts from development in and near the wash and ways to improve water quality.

Recent activities by developers near the wash prompted the 28-member committee to add the effect of development to its study.

The Las Vegas Wash collects all surface and ground-water runoff as well as treated sewage and floods from the valley. The wash acts as a funnel, sending these streams into Lake Mead, the valley's major drinking-water source.

Developers bordering the wash include homes and golf courses under construction by Saxton, Inc., and Rhodes Design and Development Corp. In addition, the Regional Flood Control District is working at the edge of the wash.

While Saxton and the Lake Las Vegas projects received necessary permits from the proper agencies, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection has stopped Rhodes from building any homes until it stops radioactive and contaminated ground water running under its 570-acre site from entering the wash or treats it before it gets there.

Mike Schulz, associate director of water quality for the federal Environmental Protection Agency, said the concerns he heard Tuesday echoed the same worries Nevada water officials voiced 20 years ago.

Kim Zikund, the coordinator of the committee, said it will become a clearinghouse for actions to protect water quality, to build a Clark County wetlands park and to secure future land and funds for preserving the wash. The wetlands have shrunk in the past 20 years from 2,000 acres to less than 200 acres as growth and flooding have destroyed the plants and wildlife habitat.

Without restoring the wetlands, Southern Nevada cannot maintain safe, clean drinking water six miles downstream from the wash.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California urged the committee to add downstream users as participants. Arizona, California and tribal officials are concerned about what happens in Southern Nevada, said Mary Ann Mann of the district.

"What affects the Las Vegas Wash affects Lake Mead and the millions of people in Arizona and Southern California who are stakeholders," Mann said.

Kurt Fritsch, deputy director of the Colorado River Commission of Nevada, said he opposed inviting outsiders to the committee. "Let's keep it with representatives from Nevada," he said.

Biologist Larry Paulson agreed with Mann that other interests should become involved on the committee. In the end, the committee agreed to inform downstream stakeholders.

Nevada is excluded from water quality meetings in other states, said Kurt Segler, Henderson's utility service manager.