Environmental Health and Protection Commons^™

Interagency Lake Mead And Las Vegas Wash Monitoring Program: Standard Operating Procedures Manual, Bureau Of Reclamation, City Of Henderson Water Reclamation Facility, City Of Las Vegas Water Pollution Control Facility, Clark County Sanitation District, Nevada, Southern Nevada Water Authority

Publications (WR)

A number of agencies sample Lake Mead and the Las Vegas Wash on a routine basis at several locations. In order to share and properly interpret the data, the Bureau of Reclamation, Southern Nevada Water Authority and the three Wastewater Treatment Facilities (City of Las Vegas, Clark County Sanitation District and City of Henderson) formed a committee to examine sampling and analytical protocols and to share information with the goal of maximizing the data quality. The group first met in April 1997.

It was agreed that an effort should be made to discuss and compare specific sampling and analytical techniques …

Nutrient Limitation In A Southwestern Desert Reservoir: Eutrophication Of Las Vegas Bay, Lake Mead, Nevada, Davine M. Lieberman

Publications (WR)

Algal bioassay tests were conducted with Selenastrum capricornutum and natural algae on inner Las Vegas Bay, Lake Mead, Nevada, from December 1992 through September 1993, to identify any nutrient limitation in an area of the reservoir that has experienced problems associated with severe nutrient enrichment. Three areas were sampled based on a gradient of water quality conditions that existed in Las Vegas Bay (LVB). Disodium ethylenedinitrilotetraacetate (EDTA) significantly stimulated algal growth compared to non-EDTA treatment. Algal bioassays indicated that phosphorus (P) was the primary limiting nutrient at all stations for most of the test dates. Chl a response with EDTA …

Baseline Water Quality Data Inventory And Analysis: Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Volume Ii Of Ii, National Park Service

Publications (WR)

This document presents the results of surface-water-quality data retrievals for Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LAME) from five of the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) national databases: (1) Storage and Retrieval (STORET) database management system; (2) River Reach File (RF3); (3) Industrial Facilities Discharge (IFD); (4) Drinking Water Supplies (DRINKS); and (5) Flow Gages (GAGES). This document is one product resulting from a cooperative contractual endeavor between the National Park Service's Servicewide Inventory and Monitoring Program, the National Park Service's Water Resources Division (WRD), and Horizon Systems Corporation to retrieve, format, and analyze water quality data for all units …

Baseline Water Quality Data Inventory And Analysis: Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Volume I Of Ii, National Park Service

Publications (WR)

This document presents the results of surface-water-quality data retrievals for Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LAME) from five of the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) national databases: (1) Storage and Retrieval (STORET) database management system; (2) River Reach File (RF3); (3) Industrial Facilities Discharge (IFD); (4) Drinking Water Supplies (DRINKS); and (5) Flow Gages (GAGES). This document is one product resulting from a cooperative contractual endeavor between the National Park Service's Servicewide Inventory and Monitoring Program, the National Park Service's Water Resources Division (WRD), and Horizon Systems Corporation to retrieve, format, and analyze water quality data for all units …

Limnological Monitoring Data For Lake Mead During 1987: Technical Report No. 20, Larry J. Paulson

Publications (WR)

Limnological monitoring was conducted in Las Vegas Bay and Boulder Basin from April to December of 1987. The purpose of the monitoring was to (i) document possible changes in water quality resulting from decreased phosphorus loading in Las Vegas Wash, and (ii) establish a data base for evaluating the adequacy of water quality standards.

River Discharge Study, Laughlin, Nevada: Colorado River Model And Diffusion Study, B. Dennis Hugh, David L. Stringfield, Jill C. Bicknell, Robert A. Ryder, Clark County Sanitation District, Nevada

Publications (WR)

A water quality modeling study of the Mohave Reach of the Lower Colorado River (from Davis Dam to the Nevada/California Stateline) was conducted to evaluate potential water quality impacts resulting from a proposed Laughlin, Nevada wastewater effluent discharge. The study included four major components: (1) review of the current regulatory framework; (2) a field data collection program to document existing water quality conditions in winter, summer, and fall; (3) development and verification of far-field and near-field (mixing zone) water quality models; and (4) application of the models to project future river quality conditions for several treatment-discharge alternatives as well as …

River Discharge Study, Laughlin, Nevada: Field Survey Data, 1987, B. Dennis Hugh, David L. Stringfield, Jill C. Bicknell, Robert A. Ryder, Clark County Sanitation District, Nevada

Publications (WR)

A report of the first field data collection effort for the Laughlin River Discharge Study, conducted by Kennedy/Jenks/ChiIton in February, 1987, on the Mohave Reach of the Colorado River. This report also serves to transmit the laboratory analysis reports for all of the analyses performed and summary tables of the results.

This report is organized as follows:

1. Field Conditions and Methodology

2. Summary of Sampling and Analysis Results

3. Deviations from the Proposed Sampling Program

4. Recommendations for Future Sampling

5. Attachments:

A. Climatological Data

B. Davis Dam Average Hourly Releases

C. Laboratory Analysis Reports

Las Vegas Wash And Lake Mead Proposed Water Quality Standards: Revisions And Rationale, State Of Nevada: Division Of Environmental Protection

Publications (WR)

Rationale of review and for proposed changes to the Nevada Pollution Control Regulations (NAC 445.1354, 445.1355, 445.1356, 455.1367, 445.1352, 445.1353, 445.1350, 445.1351) before the State Environmental Commission on June 23 and 24, 1987.

A Proposal To Fertilize The Overton Arm And Gregg Basin Areas Of Lake Mead, Larry J. Paulson

Publications (WR)

Several limnological studies have been conducted in Lake Mead during the past decade. The recent studies clearly show that most of Lake Mead is deficient in nutrients, especially phosphorus, and very low in productivity. The reservoir-wide average total phosphorus concentration for 1981 - 1982 was only 9 mg/m³. This is below levels found In most oligotrophic lakes and reservoirs. Algal biomass, as measured by chlorophyll-a, averaged only 1.5 mg/m³. That also places Lake Mead in the oligotrophic range. Transparency, as measured by a Secchi disc, averaged 9-5 m in Lake Mead during 1981-1982. That far exceeds …

Las Vegas Wash Multispectral Scanner Survey, T. H. Mace, M. V. Olsen, Environmental Protection Agency

Publications (WR)

At the request of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Boulder City, Nevada, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory at Las Vegas collected multispectral scanner imagery of Las Vegas Wash on October 1, 1982.

A combined maximum likelihood classification and editing procedure was used to classify the multispectral scanner imagery into 12 categories of land cover. The classification identified four categories of marsh vegetation, one category of riparian, two categories of mixed scrub, and two desert categories. Turbid water and cultivated land formed an "other" category. Area tabulations were formed by georeferencing the classification to the Universal Transverse …

The Effects Of Impoundments On Salinity In The Colorado River, Larry J. Paulson, John R. Baker

Publications (WR)

The increase in salinity of our western rivers has been identified as one of the most serious water quality problems in the nation. This is of special concern in the Colorado River where salinity has increased from pristine levels estimated at 380 mg/1 to present-day levels of 825 mg/1 at Imperial Dam. Flow depletions, associated with decreased runoff and increased evaporation and diversions, coupled with high salt loading from natural and man-created sources are considered the primary causes for rising salinity in the river. The urban and agricultural development projected to occur in the basin through this century could deplete …

Diagenesis Of Organic Matter In Las Vegas Bay And Bonelli Bay, Lake Mead, James W. Murray, Carolyn J. Jones, Kathy Kuivila, Jeff Sawlan

Publications (WR)

The interstitial water chemistry of the sediments of Las Vegas Bay and Bonelli Bay in Lake Mead has been studied as part of a comprehensive water quality study of those locations. Pore water and solid phase analyses were completed from four stations in Las Vegas Bay and two stations in Bonelli Bay. At both locations the pore water compositions and organic matter diagenesis in the sediments are dominated by sulfate reduction. This major role of sulfate reduction is unusual for lake sediments and reflects the fact that SO₄ is the major anion in the lake water. In addition, gypsum …

A Review Of The Limnology Of And Water Quality Standards For Lake Mead, Charles R. Goldman

Publications (WR)

1. The waters of Las Vegas Bay, a heavily utilized recreational resource, receive discharges from a variety of municipal and industrial waste sources. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has determined, on the basis of numerous studies, that the present water quality violates state and federal standards and constitutes a public nuisance. Consultants have advised the Sewage and Wastewater Advisory Committee that rapid abatement of the alleged pollution conditions can be achieved by an advanced wastewater treatment (AWT) plant.

2. The major problems in Las Vegas Bay are an objectionable water color, excessive turbidity, noxious odors, and oxygen depletion in certain …

Biological Studies Of Selected Reaches And Tributaries Of The Colorado River, Nelson Thomas, Federal Water Pollution Control Administration

Publications (WR)

This report fulfills the request of the Colorado River Basin Project, Denver, Colorado, to determine the effects of municipal and industrial wastes on the aquatic life in selected waters of the Colorado River Basin. These studies were conducted with the assistance of personnel from the Colorado River Basin Project.

Water Quality Study Of Lake Mead, Dale A. Hoffman, Paul R. Tramutt, Frank C. Heller, Bureau Of Reclamation

Publications (WR)

This report presents Lake Mead Water quality data obtained from 1964 to 1966. The effect of filling Lake Powell on the water quality of Lake Mead is evaluated. General limnological principles and the present limnology of Lake Mead are discussed. Lake Mead has a warm monomictic annual temperature cycle characterized by summer stratification, fall overturn leading into a continuous circulation throughout the winter; temperatures never fall below 39 deg F (4 deg C). During stratification, lower dissolved oxygen values were recorded in the thermocline than in the epilimnion and hypolimnion. Mineral content increases from the upper to the lower end …

Development, Verification, And Use Of Methods To Model Chemical And Thermal Processes Lakes Mead And Powell, Bureau Of Reclamation

Publications (WR)

PURPOSE

The purpose of the proposed research is to quantify the effects that Lakes Mead and Powell have on the salinity in the Colorado River system, and to evaluate changes that cap be made to the operating system of the reservoirs (within legal/institutional constraints) to enhance salt precipitation and/or minimize evaporation within the reservoirs. The effect of any changes (i.e., selective withdrawal uses, pumped storage, etc.) on reservoir evaporation could also be evaluated with a goal of minimizing evaporation. This will be accomplished through the development of a mathematical model of the reservoirs as described below.

BACKGROUND

Two major problems …