Water Resources of Nevada

• Background Information
  
  
  • Las Vegas Bay and
  • Sentinel Island
  • Overton Arm Basin and
  • Virgin Basin
• Instrumentation            
  
  
• Platforms
• Water-Quality Profiling System
• Meteorological Instruments
• Near-Real-Time Data
  
• Map
• Data Formats and Availability
• Data Parameters
• Las Vegas Bay
• Sentinel Island
• Overton Arm Basin
• Virgin Basin
• Additional Information
  
• Quality
  Assurance
  Plan
• Reports            
  
  
• Home            
  
  

Lake Mead on the Colorado River is one of the most intensely used reservoirs in the western United States, providing recreational watercraft activities and domestic drinking, industrial, and irrigation water for over 22 million users. The quality of this water must be maintained to guarantee a reliable and safe resource for its many uses. Inflow into Lake Mead primarily is from the Colorado River; however, about 3 percent of the inflow is from tributaries on the northern side of the Lake and from Las Vegas Wash on the northwest side of the Lake.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), National Park Service (NPS), and the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), is monitoring water quality on a "real-time" basis at four floating platforms on Lake Mead. Two of the platforms are located in the Boulder Basin of Lake Mead, in Las Vegas Bay and near Sentinel Island; a third platform is located in the Overton Arm Basin near the Overton Marina; and the fourth platform is located in the Virgin Basin, near the Narrows, which separates the Virgin and Boulder Basins. In addition to monitoring water-quality, meteorological data are collected at the Sentinel Island platform, in cooperation with the Clark County Water Reclamation District (CCWRD), and at the Virgin and Overton Arm Basin platforms, in cooperation with NPS. Water-quality and meteorological data are available on this web site and can be accessed by clicking on a site on the map or on the heading tabs.

The water-quality and meteorological parameters measured at the indicated sites include

Water Temperature pH Specific Conductance Dissolved Oxygen Turbidity Percent Fluorescence

Air Temperature Wind Speed and Direction Relative Humidity Solar Radiation Barometric Pressure

For further information about this program, contact:
Ronald J. Veley
160 N. Stephanie St.
Henderson, NV 89074
(702) 564-4542
Email: