Board expected to OK Las Vegas Wash plan

Thursday, Jan. 20, 2000 | 10:47 a.m.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority Board was expected today to approve a comprehensive plan to save scarce desert wetlands that would help provide cleaner water to the Las Vegas Valley and improve a home for wildlife.

The first step water experts have to take is stopping erosion in the Las Vegas Wash, said Kim Zikmund, the water authority's project manager.

"That's the only way to save the wash," Zikmund said.

Once the board approves the plan for restoration of the Las Vegas Wash, which runs along the southeastern edge of the valley, an estimated nine erosion controls will be built beginning this year to save the wetlands and wildlife habitat.

Critical water quality issues prompted the water authority to take overall responsibility for saving the wash, which drains the entire Las Vegas Valley. For decades more than 28 federal, state and local agencies had bits and pieces of responsibility for the wash and not much was accomplished, the plan notes.

Instead of producing another plan that will gather dust on a shelf, Zikmund said, this one is intended to offer a road map for long-term management of the troubled wetlands that dropped from a lush 2,000 acres to less than 200 acres over the past 20 years.

A 28-member committee drew the plan's features together, and the public reviewed it through a number of workshops in November. A total of 238 public comments were included in the final plan, Zikmund said.

"Ninety percent of the public comments were used to improve the plan," she said.

In less than two years the 28-member Las Vegas Wash Coordination Committee wrote the plan with the first goal to control further erosion. The coordination committee accepted the plan on Dec. 28.

Clark County's Parks and Recreation Department started work Tuesday on the first control structure at Pabco Road. The county is developing 2,400 acres of the wetlands as a nature park. The total cost for the Pabco Road control is estimated at $3.7 million.

Another structure needing immediate attention is a temporary control that guarded an abandoned water authority pipeline crisscrossing the wash. During a storm on July 8, up to 4.5 billion gallons of water flowed under the pipeline, compared to an average 153 million gallons a day.

The summer storms widened the wash by 300 feet in some areas and deposited tons of sediment into Lake Mead's Las Vegas Bay. The water authority has to redesign the control structure to protect the pipeline and the wash. Construction is expected to begin in the spring.

But the water authority didn't wait for planners or for another flood. With Lake Las Vegas Resort as a partner, the water authority built a prototype erosion control structure near Three Kids Wash. The 200-foot-wide structure utilized 7,000 tons of limestone rock donated by the resort.

The 3-foot-high structure has created a pond of a little more than 4 acres that could provide an inviting environment for a renewed wetland habitat.

As the rapid, destructive flow in the wash slows, less sediment and improved water quality are expected.