Las Vegas Wash helps mitigate Colorado River drought impacts

Dangerous flash floods usually earn our focus when discussing summer monsoons, but Drought conditions across the Colorado River basin have been in the news recently with the U.S. Department of the Interior's announced river allocation reductions for Nevada, California and Arizona.

Nevada's river allotment will be reduced from 300,000-acre feet to 250,000 for the next two years.

Thanks to investments in water conservation and improvements to the Las Vegas Wash over the last 25 years, Nevada can manage these new restrictions.

Our community recycles almost every drop of water used indoors by treating it to a high level and discharging the flows into the Wash.

Water recycled through the Wash allows us to take out an acre-foot for every acre-foot treated and returned to Lake Mead, extending our Colorado River allocation, and making the Wash a critical component of our water resources.

Find out how the Las Vegas Wash benefits Southern Nevada.

Where to go at the Las Vegas Wash

Clark County Wetlands Park

2,900-acre nature preserve
Miles of trails for walking, biking, bird watching and more
Nature Center with 10,000 square feet of interactive displays, artwork and activities

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Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve

Home to thousands of migratory and resident desert birds
Nine ponds available for birding
3/4-mile long trail accessible by wheelchair

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Water quality

See how the wetlands at the Wash clean the water that runs through them, filtering out harmful residues from fertilizers, oils and other contaminants that flow downstream.