Ground water protection plan to be prepared

Tuesday, June 19, 2001 | 10:43 a.m.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority is preparing a plan to protect ground water sources in the Las Vegas Valley, an authority staffer said Monday.

Susan Selby, authority resource planning manager, said the plan, prepared with the assistance of the state government, will evaluate the quality of water supplying the almost 10,000 wells throughout the valley.

Selby spoke during a meeting of the ground water management advisory committee, a group that brings together water authority staff with residents and representatives of major ground water users.

The ground water protection plan is important because everyone in the valley drinks that water, she said. Not only do thousands of wells directly supply residential and commercial needs, but about 15 percent of all water consumed by the valley's municipal systems comes from ground water.

The remainder comes from the Colorado River.

The authority is just beginning work to inventory wells and contamination sources, Selby said. The effort will be a collaboration among a dozen government agencies, all of which oversee part of the puzzle that comprises ground water quality.

The goal of the project is to identify those areas of groundwater that are particularly vulnerable to contamination, with an eye toward providing better protection to those areas, she said.

Mike Goff, authority senior hydrologist, said the major sources of contamination can include automobile service stations, manufacturing sites and industrial chemical users, septic tanks and others.

Goff said it also is important to identify wells that can cause water contamination by mixing shallower sources of briny water with the deeper, clearer aquifers.

Contamination problems don't appear to be widespread in the Las Vegas Valley, he said.

"We're fortunate at this point," Goff said.

Selby said it will be about a year before the authority has a list of recommendations to protect ground water from contamination.

Water conservation programs could soon be in place for well users. Existing programs provide educational support and cash incentives for users of water systems, but not well users, said Doug Bennett, authority conservation manager.

Andrew Belander, an authority management analyst, said the water authority hopes to have incentives in place to encourage water conservation among well users before summer 2002.

"Groundwater is a limited resource," he said, pointing out that it is a valuable commodity to both government and private users.

John Hiatt, an Enterprise resident, well user and committee member, said it is important for everyone to be involved.

"I think well owners have been left out of (incentive programs),"he said.

Belander told the committee just one bill that dealt with ground water passed the Legislature. The bill requires notification to local domestic well users within 2,500 feet when another user drills a new well that can pump more than a half-cubic foot or more of water.

Previously, Nevada law provided the notification requirements for every county except Clark.