Health District says hazards lingering

Will Oremus

Thursday, Aug. 21, 2003 | 9:41 a.m.

The floodwaters have come and gone, but Clark County Health District officials say hazards linger in the northwest Las Vegas neighborhoods affected by Tuesday's storm.

Among the most pressing concerns is potentially contaminated well water.

J.C. Davis, spokesman for the Clark County Water District, said municipal wells are sealed and were therefore unaffected. But according to the health district, private wells may be contaminated if the well head was submerged at any time, or if substantial erosion occurred.

"Think of all the stuff that (the floodwater) is running over -- animal waste, pesticides, oil," health district spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore said.

Those same contaminants can ruin any food they come into contact with, so the health district recommends discarding any unsealed perishables that may have been exposed to the floodwater. Surfaces such as counters and pantry shelves also might need to be disinfected.

Parents shouldn't let their kids play in pools of accumulated runoff or handle debris from the flood, Sizemore said. Anyone who does come in contact with the water should wash thoroughly with soap.

While the floodwater may or may not be toxic enough to pose a health risk to adults, the health district warns that infants are unusually susceptible to illnesses carried by contaminated water.

As for adults, "You don't necessarily see huge outbreaks associated with floods, but if they have any type of puncture wounds or open cuts, if they were in contact with the floodwater they should check into getting tetanus shots," Sizemore said.

People elsewhere in the Las Vegas Valley need not worry about their water quality, Davis said. While he said it is true that runoff from floods flows unfiltered into Lake Mead via the Las Vegas Wash, the dilution that occurs along the way prevents debris from contaminating the water supply.

"We did some sampling today, and what you would look for and expect is potentially you could see elevated bacteria counts," Davis said. That didn't happen with this storm, he said.

"Historically that's been a fairly minimal issue, because the intakes are about 7 miles away and 100 feet deep. As a result, you tend not to see the influence, even in a storm event, of all that water coming down in the wash."

Davis said this year's flood brought only about one-fourth the amount of runoff to the lake as the 1999 flood and caused much less erosion of the channel.

"From an environmental perspective, it was a non-event," Davis said.

Marty Flynn of the Clark County Water Reclamation District said the debris was not likely to cause any problems in the sewers, either.

"We would have had to see a much bigger spike in the volume of water coming in," he said. "There was a spike, but well within the plant's capability."

For more information on flood damage to wells, restaurants and other public accommodations, call (702) 383-1251.