Land near Sunrise Mountain sought for flood basin

Thursday, April 28, 2005 | 9:47 a.m.

SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- A newly introduced Senate bill that would release 65 acres of public land for a floodwater retention basin would help protect the Las Vegas Valley, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said.

But the land -- on the east side of the Las Vegas Valley near Charleston and Hollywood boulevards at roughly the base of Sunrise Mountain -- is part of an area designated as environmentally sensitive land.

The land currently is managed by the Bureau of Land Management as part of the Sunrise Mountain "Instant Study Area," which restricts development. The senators say the land is in a strategic location for a basin that could prevent water from rushing into the valley during rainstorms.

The planned basin, dubbed the Orchard Detention Basin, is an important part of the Clark County Regional Flood Control District's comprehensive flood-control plan, aimed at protecting 1,800 urban acres from floodwaters, flood control district general manager Gale Fraser said.

Sixty-eight detention basins have been built throughout Clark County and 130 more are needed in Southern Nevada, Fraser said.