City to pay water-pollution fine

Diana Sahagun

Thursday, April 12, 2001 | 10:38 a.m.

An old violation against the city of Las Vegas lodged by the state Environmental Protection Division has finally wound its way through the system, with the city agreeing to pay a $3,500 fine.

In December 1998 the state charged the city with violating the Water Pollution Control Law when it accidentally discharged chlorine from the sewer system into a channel that flowed into Las Vegas Wash.

The formal violation floated around until it was signed by Mayor Oscar Goodman this week.

The original complaint and the signed consent agreement will make its way to a District Court judge, who will approve the $3,500 fine.

"Normally (the formal order) would happen within six months of the investigation, but this fell through the cracks," said Joe Livak, a pollution-control supervisor with the state's water division.

"It was in an attorney's office in San Francisco for a while, on the mayor's desk for a while, and in the attorney general's office for a while," Livak said.

On Dec. 14, 1997, workers noticed that a sensor used to control chlorine entering the wastewater stream had shut down.

This allowed too much chlorine, used to disinfect and treat the sewage, to enter Las Vegas Wash, according to the state. About 50 carp and 25 catfish were reported to have been killed because of exposure to the chlorine.