Wetlands renewal is sought in LV Wash

Monday, Oct. 18, 1999 | 11:49 a.m.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority proposal to manage the Las Vegas Wash was scheduled to be posted on the water authority's website this afternoon, at www.lvwash.org.

The Las Vegas Wash is critical to the future of the Las Vegas Valley's health, both economic and physical, Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy said.

In one of the strongest statements Mulroy has made on solving harmful bacteria, pesticides, perchlorate and other problems plaguing the 15-mile-long wash, she called on federal, state and local water and wastewater agencies Friday to work together to restore ruined wetlands.

"We are here today creating a blueprint and a vision for the Las Vegas Wash," Mulroy said Friday as a 3-inch thick draft management plan was released for public review through Nov. 20. Public hearings are scheduled through November.

"We are a piece of a much larger ecosystem, and we have a responsibility to make it as clean as possible," she said. The wash once stretched for 2,000 acres but now barely contains 200 acres of marshes. The marsh plants filter water headed into Lake Mead, the valley's drinking water source.

Mulroy backed up her concern with the announcement of a $1.5 million study to look at changing the way the valley discharges wastewater into the wash. Such a switch would be significant, because the water authority earns extra water from Lake Mead and the Colorado River if it returns treated wastewater to the wash. However, if the wastewater were treated and recycled in the valley, it would reduce the runoff and pollution going into the wash.

The proposal also calls for immediate construction of erosion controls, restoration of cattail marshes, identification of water sources to maintain a future Clark County wetlands part, study of alternatives to wastewater discharge and appointment of an agency to supervise wetlands renewal.

The suggestions were part of 45 recommendations made by the Las Vegas Wash Coordination Committee, which has met for a year to draft the plan, Kim Zikmund, wash planning project manager, said.

While natural springs once supported cattail marshes that purify Southern Nevada's drinking water, a billion gallons of runoff from the 1,600-square-mile Southern Nevada watershed has carved 50-foot caverns in the wash, Zikmund said. In addition, floodwaters -- the most recent on July 8 -- have ravaged the marshes.

This decade the marshes have received closer attention as the focus of the water debate has shifted from wringing more water from the Colorado River to improving the quality of the local drinking water supply.

In 1994 the one-celled organism cryptospordium killed 43 Las Vegas residents and sickened another 132, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The CDC concluded that the deadly cells spread through the valley's modern drinking water system, although no live crypto was discovered in the drinking water supply.

Then in 1996 Southern Nevada residents learned that bottom-feeding carp were found with defects -- male fish were showing characteristics of females. A U.S. Geological Survey report said the problems could be caused by chemicals, pesticides and insecticides in the wash.

In 1998 ammonium perchlorate, a salt that boosts the performance of rocket fuel, was discovered in the wash, Lake Mead and in valley drinking water reservoirs. The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection is working with the water authority to force two former perchlorate manufacturers in Henderson to clear the water of the chemical.

The water authority now is spending $3 billion to add filters, treatment and delivery pipes to improve water quality and keep up with demand.

"The Las Vegas Wash is an issue that can no longer be ignored," Mulroy said, noting the benefits wetlands contribute to clearing the water of the bacteria, chemicals and other toxins.

But some said the water authority has moved too slowly to save the marshlands.

Retired biologist Larry Paulson said he has been frustrated for more than 20 years with inaction by local and state governments. "When can we expect 10, 20 even 500 acres of cattails?" he asked.

Clark County has plans to create a 2,000-acre wetlands park within the next 20 years that will include the wash's current acreage. Ducks Unlimited, a private organization, is working on building the first 200 acres over the next several years.

Paulson also questioned how successful the management plan would be. "Why is this going to be successful? ... although it's a thicker report than I've seen in the past," Paulson said.

The county is expected to begin building the first of three erosion controls in the wash this December.

Environmental activist Norma Cox noted that the Las Vegas Wash is more than simply a water issue. "It's a watershed issue, and if we are not careful, we can destroy the entire Las Vegas Valley," she said, adding that the shallow ground water layer had been contaminated with oils, chemicals and other wastes.

Cox has urged for years that water officials consider retaining floodwaters and other massive amounts of runoff within the valley, instead of polluting the wash with it.

UNLV art historian Fred Sigman said he has photographed the wash for 30 years "tramping around in the mud and the muck," and noticed that an entire population of beavers had been flooded out this summer.

"I share Larry Paulson's frustration, and although I am not an engineer, I approach the wash from an aesthetic and spiritual appreciation," he said.

Mulroy said she appreciated the public frustration, but each individual should commit to improving the wash. "The Colorado River is over-appropriated and every drop counts," she said. "We have a responsibility to that larger whole."