LV Valley facing more challenges to protect its water

Friday, July 20, 2001 | 9:35 a.m.

In its 10-year history the Southern Nevada Water Authority has secured a safer water supply, but the Las Vegas Valley faces greater challenges to protect its resources from contaminants, General Manager Pat Mulroy said.

Studies of chemicals, pesticides, bacteria, viruses and unknown contaminants have just begun in the Las Vegas Wash, the channel that drains water from the entire valley into Lake Mead, Southern Nevada's major source of drinking water.

As the lake drops by as much as 50 feet in the next 15 years to satisfy California's demand for water, maintaining the quality of Southern Nevada's water supply becomes even tougher, Mulroy said during her annual "state of the water" address Thursday.

When one of the world's largest ozone treatment plant opens next year the chance that disease-causing organisms will enter the water supply will be significantly reduced, Mulroy said.

Cryptosporidium, a single-celled organism that killed 43 Las Vegas residents and sickened another 132 in 1994, will no longer be a threat in Southern Nevada, Mulroy said.

However, stricter water quality standards and population growth could overwhelm the estimated $100 million treatment system, she said.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority Board on Thursday voted unanimously to spend $100,000 to take part in a two-year study, which involves combining ozone and ultraviolet treatment of water in a Concord, Mass., treatment plant.

"This research will be very beneficial to us in the future," Mulroy said.

The American Water Works Association is sponsoring an $815,000 project to study how effectively ultraviolet light kills bacteria and viruses and whether treating the water with ozone gas improves taste and odor, Ron Zegers, director of the Southern Nevada Water System, said. Recent research indicates combining the treatments works best, he said.

By sharing the costs with the water works association and Massachusetts, the water authority will be poised to take the next step in treating the local drinking water, Zegers said.

Along with removing contamination, conservation is another major goal for the water authority. Residents need to cut water use by 25 percent by 2010, officials said. "We're struggling," Mulroy said. Residents last year residents reduced water use by 16.5 percent, failing to reach the 18 percent goal, she said.

In other action, the water authority board elected Henderson Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers chairwoman. She replaces Clark County Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, who became vice chairwoman of the board. Kincaid-Chauncey served as chair from January 1997 until Thursday.