Well flushing is necessary despite drought conditions

Caitlin Hudgins

Wednesday, May 19, 2004 | 12:55 p.m.

It might seem odd that North Las Vegas is planning to send 360,000 gallons of water from the Silver Mesa well into a storm drain during the fifth year of a regional drought.

The move is even more startling since the city, with the rest of the Las Vegas Valley, is officially on drought alert, the second level of a three-tiered warning system established by the Southern Nevada Water Authority. The alert not only restricts the size and irrigation of commercial and residential landscapes, but also prohibits the use of most fountains and even discourages high-volume car washes.

But on June 2 the city's Utilities Department will send almost an acre-foot of water -- about what a family of five consumes in a year -- into the gutters to flush the well, which is part of a network of wells that provides 12 percent of the Las Vegas Valley's drinking water.

The flushing is necessary as part of an annual procedure that will ensure the pressure and quality of the water, Utilities Department officials said.

"When you turn the water on, you want it to come out clear, right?" Utilities Director David Bereskin said. The yearly cleansing "makes sure it (the water) is healthy and safe for drinking," he said.

The wells are all the more important given Lake Mead's falling water level, which has dropped 70 feet over the past five years.

Even the wells are falling short though, and the water district has applied to draw extra water from the ground in rural areas in Nye, Clark and Lincoln counties to help fill the void the lake has left. Rural residents have opposed the move.

In the case of the Silver Mesa well, it's a matter of keeping the water usable. Flowing for up to four hours from its location at Alexander Road and Bravita Drive, the flushed water will travel east in gutters along Alexander Road and then north on Simmons Street to Craig Road.

The discharge will occur early on the morning of June 2 to "minimize inconvenience," Bereskin said. "It won't be a rapid river," he said, but "it's an amount of water that if you drive through it, you'll get your car dirty.

"It is a drought, and we don't want to give false perceptions -- we don't want to confuse people," Bereskin said.