Editorial: Babbitt puts wetlands on center stage

Thursday, April 1, 1999 | 10:46 a.m.

When Westerners talk about water it's usually about how to get more of this critical resource in a region where it's frequently in short supply. It's unfortunate, though, that quantity often overshadows the equally important issue of quality.

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt was in Southern Nevada this week, and one of the reasons for Babbitt's visit was to see firsthand how urban runoff over two decades has devastated the wetlands of the Las Vegas Wash. What is the connection between the health of the wetlands and safe drinking water? Quite simply, the wetlands' vegetation acts as a natural filter for the water that flows into Lake Mead. If erosion continues to destroy the wetlands, then polluted water that flows through the Las Vegas Wash enters Lake Mead, the source of drinking water for most Southern Nevadans.

It's not an understatement to say that the wetlands' health has reached a crisis stage. In just 20 years the wetlands in the Las Vegas Wash has shrunk from 2,000 acres to fewer than 200 acres now. Sustaining the wetlands in our back yard isn't just an issue affecting Southern Nevada's drinking supply. There are an estimated 20 million residents in Arizona and California who rely on getting their drinking water from Lake Mead, which makes this a regional problem as well.

As the Sun's Mary Manning reported Tuesday, Babbitt assured Nevada officials that the Interior Department would help state and local water experts identify what is causing the pollution and its impact on public health. Babbitt acknowledged there isn't a single solution to prevent pollution of the drinking water, but restoring the wetlands is a key to reversing the current situation. Replenishing the wetlands isn't going to be easy, though, because the erosion of the Las Vegas Wash has gotten so severe that marshland plants would simply be swept away unless corrective -- and costly -- action is taken. So the Clark County Commission is spending $100 million to build a wetlands park, which hopefully will stop the erosion and create pools of water that will be turned into marshlands.

Restoring the wetlands won't happen overnight, but failure to act quickly now in a concerted way only increases the likelihood that the wetlands will be irreparably harmed. No promises of millions of dollars from the federal government were made to help replenish the wetlands, but Babbitt's concern and commitment to having federal scientists assist in finding the source and scope of pollution in Lake Mead is heartening. Local and state officials must not lose the momentum they have built in coordinating efforts to address water quality, which affects the health and welfare of Southern Nevadans.