Major funding needed to help clean up Lake Mead

Monday, March 20, 2000 | 10:49 a.m.

So many sources of pollution slip into Lake Mead that it will take a host of federal, state and local funds to protect Southern Nevada's major water source, officials said.

Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Shelley Berkley, both D-Nev., are asking for $1 million this year to begin removing chemicals from fuels, bacteria from excrement and other contaminants in the lake, Bureau of Reclamation Project Manager John Johnson said.

Last year Reid snared $1.4 million for the bureau to continue studies of the lake, which is used by 60 million people for drinking, recreation and farming.

It could cost about $60 million to offer enough protection for future generations, Reid said on Friday during a special forum on the lake's future.

In addition, the National Park Service implored Congress to allocate $2 million to save the North Shore Road Bridge, which crosses the Las Vegas Wash near where it meets Lake Mead. The bridge has been damaged several times by flooding and has been patched but now needs rebuilding to remain sound.

About 28 government agencies are involved in protecting Las Vegas Wash and the lake.

Take, for example, the Park Service, the agency responsible for the 161,000 acres of Lake Mead National Recreation Area, which is larger than the state of Delaware, Superintendent Alan O'Neill said.

To make the entire lake fishable and swimmable, the Park Service has to deal with pollution problems from fuels and fumes from about 10 million visitors a year, O'Neill said.

If the Interior Department secretary approves a plan to allow California to store more water from the Colorado River in the next 15 years, Lake Mead could drop more than 100 feet, O'Neill said, threatening the water quality for both recreation and drinking.

"The lake cannot be viewed as a convenient dilution zone to solve the community's water disposal issues," O'Neill said.

However, in its zeal to protect urban areas from flood damage, Southern Nevada officials have created flood control measures that send water in torrents through the Las Vegas Wash, and with the water bacteria and other toxins, O'Neill said. Runoff from old landfills at Sunrise Mountain and Henderson also find its way into the wash, he said.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency is aware of those problems, regional EPA Director Felicia Marcus said, although no limits on such runoff have been proposed until scientific studies are completed.

The first step is to restore wetlands by stopping erosion in the wash. Floods in July and August cut 50-foot cliffs into the wash's banks.

While the county, under the direction of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, is building two structures in the wash this year as part of a project to create a wetlands park at a cost of more than $3 million, O'Neill said a milelong stretch of the wash that is not included in the county's cleanup plans poses a different problem.

That waterway is managed by the Park Service and needs at least eight barriers costing $40,000 in addition to the North Shore Bridge, O'Neill said.

Those additional erosion barricades will help create more wetlands to restore 2,000 acres of cattail marshes and willows to both slow sediments and clean contaminated water.

While the companion bills proposed by Reid and Berkley are another step to solve Southern Nevada's water quality problems, the senator acknowledged how important it is for funds to restore wetlands in the wash and called for a progress report in a year.

"The sad truth is that unprecedented growth in the Las Vegas Valley, frequent flooding and industrial pollution have all left the lake in need of a helping hand," he said.

Mary Manning covers environmental issues for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-4065 or by e-mail at manning@lasvegassun.com.