Las Vegas Bay and Sentinel Island Water Quality Platforms
Water quality in the Boulder Basin, including Las Vegas Bay and near Sentinel Island, is influenced by water discharging from Las Vegas Wash. Las Vegas Wash discharges into the west side of the Boulder Basin with an annual flow of about 188,000 acre-feet. Las Vegas Wash transports treated municipal wastewater effluent, storm water and urban runoff, and shallow ground-water seepage from Las Vegas Valley to the Boulder Basin. Efforts are currently underway to monitor and improve the quality of water in Las Vegas Wash before it discharges to Lake Mead. For example, the Las Vegas Wash Coordination Committee, a multiagency panel chaired by SNWA, is working to stabilize the Las Vegas Wash Channel, establish wetlands along Las Vegas Wash, perform environmental monitoring, and promote public awareness by disseminating timely monitoring results.
Newly constructed wetlands on Las Vegas Wash.
Photo courtesy of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
The Las Vegas Bay platform will help monitor water-quality changes and trends related to fluctuations of daily discharge in Las Vegas Wash. Additionally, data collected at both stations currently are used to help calibrate computer models that simulate the movement of water from Las Vegas Wash in the Boulder Basin.
The Las Vegas Bay platform began collecting water-quality data in September 2000 and the Sentinel Island station began collecting water-quality data in January 2002. Meteorological data collection at the Sentinel Island site began in 1997, in cooperation with the Clark County Water Reclamation District.
