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Water Quality
We are conducting many projects along the Wash. The research projects under way include both water quality resources as well as a variety of biological studies. We have several programs where we are collecting and sampling the quality of the water in the mainstream wash, and in its tributaries and seeps. Our real-time water quality monitoring program allows us to collect data at 20-minute intervals, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We have sophisticated equipment logging data for us, such as pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and electrical conductivity, which you can view in the real-time water quality monitoring section.
We conduct stream gaging to measure flows of the tributaries of the Wash, and determine how much water is flowing from them into the mainstream Wash. This is important to establish a baseline of the water quality of each flow into the Wash, and allows us to determine contributions of contamination from urban runoff and specific uses of the land around the valley and study the effects on water quality. It's important to understand that contamination knows no boundaries. Whether it's dumped on the ground out in the northwest section of the Las Vegas Valley, or on the streets of Las Vegas, it will eventually make its way to the Wash through the various tributaries and the groundwater.
We collect samples of water at numerous locations along the Wash and within the Boulder Basin of Lake Mead for a contaminant assessment program that is under way. In this program, we are assessing emerging contaminants such as mercury, perchlorate, and selenium, from surface and ground water, and are evaluating the efficiency of treatment of the water. We are also continuously monitoring the aquatic environment of the Boulder Basin, and enhancing our understanding of how the Wash affects this environment.
The biological surveys and studies we are conducting help us understand the important relationship between the water and the creatures living in and around it. Water quality is important not only to humans, but also to wildlife, and the presence, or absence, of wildlife can help us to better understand what is happening within the Wash. Research on fish, small mammals, reptiles, and amphibians has concluded for the time being. Other research projects, such as the macroinvertebrate, bat, and bird studies, have been ongoing for years. We recently added a layer to our bird monitoring program with the avian point count study, which has swelled the list of birds identified on the Wash in the past five years to more than 160 species. Plants are also an important component of the Wash ecosystem. An inventory of more than 180 species of plants has been logged and is ongoing, and our herbarium collection can be searched on-line.
You'll be able to find out more about our projects throughout this section. If you have any questions contact the project team office at (702) 822-3300.