Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
eventually become (in every successful ecosystem restoration project) what can be
called “integrated community stakeholder involvement.”
The other items necessary for a successful restoration project are all structural
(Scharnhorst 2004). The water balance absolutely and unequivocally has to be right.
And this means not just the quality and the quantity of water, but also the timing and
the distribution of its delivery (see chapter 18). One useful approach is to always plan
for and ensure some early wins and successes. Overall success often depends, for
example, on creating incremental products such as demonstration projects that can
be celebrated by everyone (France 2005). And, finally, it is key to have a long-term
implementation financing operations and maintenance strategy in place in order to
develop a sustainable, long-term plan.
This chapter will briefly review the place that is the Las Vegas Wash. Next, the
actions of the people and how they nearly destroyed the Wash will be covered, fol-
lowed by how the people later became mobilized to restore the Wash. Issues con-
cerning water will be examined throughout, and the protection of the Wash will be
introduced, followed by the adaptive management plan and an assessment about how
to improve conditions as the project evolves (Scharnhorst 2004).
THE PLACE
Las Vegas already had a small contingent of light urbanization as early as the
mid-1800s, when it was a railroad town (France 2011; see also chapter 13). The
Wash itself was a very broad floodplain filled with beautiful honey mesquite trees.
It was an ephemeral stream, receiving water only when it rained. Some ground-
water was present as well. One of the things that Scharnhorst (2004) is most
proud of in the restoration of the Wash is her work with one of the stakeholders
there—one of the wastewater dischargers in the area—to create a demonstration
wetlands project for wastewater treatment similar to those described in chapters
18, 19, and 20, and which also included a bird-viewing preserve. This particular
organization even went as far as to produce its own short film, which included the
following voice-over:
Flying high over the desert of southern Nevada, your eyes are quickly drawn to the
bright lights and high-rise buildings, beckoning eager visitors to the entertainment
capital of the world. But from a bird's-eye view, the best destination resort in this val-
ley is a unique quiet hideaway, offering cool, refreshing water and plentiful food and
nourishment. A comfortable, protected place to build a home, raise a family, play with
friends, eat a meal, and just get away from it all. The city of Henderson's bird-viewing
preserve and water reclamation facility—a place to call home for the birds.
Who would ever guess you could do so much with wastewater effluent?
Las Vegas and its Wash are located in southern Nevada along the Colorado River.
The Las Vegas valley itself is sandwiched between the Spring Mountains on the west
and Lake Mead on the east, the latter being a national recreation area administered
by the National Park Service. Lake Mead is an artificial reservoir formed by con-
struction of the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. The section of the Las Vegas
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