Sewage discharge permits upheld

Thursday, April 25, 2002 | 9:10 a.m.

A Nevada state board has upheld sewage discharge permits for Las Vegas, Henderson and the Clark County Sanitation District.

The action allows the governments to continue releasing treated waste under the two-year-old permits. The appeal was filed by Robert Hall, president of the Nevada Environmental Coalition.

Hall and other activists had argued that the discharges into Lake Mead had contributed to an algae bloom last year and posed an environmental hazard.

But the State Environmental Commission ruled that the permit, which increased the total amount of treated waste and water going into the lake, was valid.

"We were always confident that we issued the permit appropriately, so we are pleased with the outcome," said Leo Drozdoff, chief of the Nevada Bureau of Water Pollution Control, the agency that issued the permit.

Doug Karafa, Clark County Sanitation District, said the permit is needed for his agency and other Las Vegas Valley agencies to meet the demands of a rapidly growing population.

Together, the three agencies have spent about $500 million to improve waste collection, treatment and discharge systems, Karafa said.

"Those improvements do two things: They expand capacity, and they continue to provide higher and higher levels of treatment," he said.

During the two-day hearing, which began Tuesday, Hall filed numerous objections to information and documents provided by the state and local agencies. Agency representatives said at the hearing that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had signed off on the permit.

Hall, who has filed numerous lawsuits against federal, state and local public agencies, said at the hearing that rejection of his objections laid groundwork for a legal challenge.

The decision to uphold the permit "doesn't surprise us," Hall said.

The appeal was based on the idea that the permit was not justified during the administrative process. Hall said the hearing also failed to justify the permit.

Hall said he will decide on a legal challenge to the State Environmental Commission within 30 days.