Sustainability Commons^™

What Does Smart Growth Mean For Housing?, Karen A. Danielsen, Robert E. Lang, William Fulton

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

Barely noticed amid the returns from the 1998 midterm elections was a quiet revolution that goes to the heart of how and where Americans live. While most news accounts focused on the high-profile candidate elections, voters across the nation-in Democratic and Republican areas alike-approved more than 160 state and local ballot measures intended to preserve open space and limit urban sprawl.

The coalition forming around the idea of limiting sprawl includes environmentalists, farmers, big-city mayors, and some developers. But perhaps most important, the so-called "smart growth" movement also includes many suburban voters who are fed up with growth. For example, …

Water Conservation In The Las Vegas Valley, Judith M. Keir

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis deals primarily with residential use of water in the Las Vegas Valley, an arid climate located in the Mojave Desert, and whether the education of people living here has any bearing on whether or not they conserve water. Many of the residents of the Las Vegas Valley have moved from other areas of the country, and perhaps are not aware of the fact that there is a limited supply of water available to the Valley. I believe that people are not necessarily wasteful, and that they would want to conserve water, if they were aware that conservation and …

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 …

Artificial Recharge In The Las Vegas Valley: An Operational History, Michael Johnson, Erin Cole, Kay Brothers, Las Vegas Valley Water District

Publications (WR)

Artificially recharging the Las Vegas Valley (Valley) ground-water system with treated Colorado River water is one water resource management option employed by the Las Vegas Valley Water District (District) to help meet future long-term and short-term peak water demands. The District began operation of an artificial ground-water recharge program in 1988 in order to bank water for future use and to slow declining water levels. Artificial recharge occurs in the winter months, typically from October to May, when there is excess capacity in the Southern Nevada Water System (SNWS), currently a 400 Million Gallon per Day (MGD) treatment and transmission …

Recycling At Work: Waste Reduction And Recycling In The Las Vegas Hospitality Industry, Darlene M. Cartier

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Las Vegas hotel and restaurant industries generate 27% of the total waste for Clark County, Nevada. In an effort to study and increase recycling participation in the hospitality industry, Las Vegas hotels and restaurants were contacted to participate in a collaborative project between UNLV's Department of Environmental Studies and the Clark County Health District's Environmental Health Division, The project involved interviewing establishments with recycling programs currently in place. Information gathered from interviews and program tours was used to develop programs for hotels and restaurants who were not yet recycling. This thesis contains case studies of restaurants and hotels who …

Composting Landscape Waste From The University Of Nevada, Las Vegas, K. Jill Hammond

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is a major producer of organic waste in the Las Vegas Valley. Composting landscape wastes is one way to reduce both landfill dumping and fertilizer costs for the university. It is also an environmentally friendly means of curbing a nationwide problem: unnecessary use of landfill space. Three sites within Clark County were analyzed for the feasibility of composting: Frenchman Mountain, UNLV Campus, and Boulder City Landfill. Using cost analysis, water availability, and other factors to analyze each site, Boulder City Landfill appears to be the best place to house UNLV's composting operation. Composting in …

The Influence Of The Wastewater Drainage From The Las Vegas Valley On The Limnology Of Boulder Basin, Lake Mead, Nevada-Arizona, James F. Labounty, Michael J. Horn, Bureau Of Reclamation

Publications (WR)

Lake Mead, Colorado River, Arizona-Nevada, is one of the most heavily used reservoirs in the western United States, providing abundant recreational opportunities as well as downstream domestic and agricultural water for over 22 million users. Based on average nutrient levels and productivity, Lake Mead is classified as mildly mesotrophic. The interflow of the Colorado River dominates the limnology of much of the 106 km-long reservoir, and may still be identified at Hoover Dam under certain conditions. The lower basin of Lake Mead ending at Hoover Dam is known as Boulder Basin and is near the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Las …

The Real Cost Of Beef: A Monetary Assessment Of The Environmental Degradation Caused By Beef Production, Carolyn Babcock

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The environmental degradation caused by beef production is severe. The current literature assesses the ecological damage, but falls short of assigning a per pound dollar amount to reflect the real cost of beef. In the United States, most of the environmental focus has been centered around the use of public lands for grazing and the grazing fee the government considers appropriate. The fee covers the maintenance of the grazing program, which includes maintenance of the actual land. This paper will concentrate on beef-related environmental degradation and select specific damage for monetary valuation.

Innovations In Reuse, Lisa R. Osorio

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Material reuse benefits all sectors in the community by decreasing the amount of reusable solid waste that is discarded. It increases the resources available for various programs and builds partnerships with educators, and businesses to support and promote reuse programs that will improve the quality of life in areas in which they operate. Several areas of the country currently have reuse programs that focus on several areas of reuse. Successful projects in several cities have focused on such areas as reuse for education, the arts, or other nonprofit activities. These sustainable programs have benefited other communities and should serve as …

The Barriers Present In More Developed Countries And Less Developed Countries Slowing The Implementation Of Substainability, Luke Giovine

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In 1996 the natural resource base of the world is being depleted at a rate far below the sustainable level. This is very evident in less developed countries (IDC), where raw limited natural resources are being poorly utilized and/or exported to more developed countries (MDC). The More Developed Countries such as the United States, Japan, and Germany use a high amount of natural resources and energy to maintain their material Standard Of Living (SOL), and this is at rates above what their own country can sustain with its own natural resources within its own borders. Both MDC's and LDC's are …

Synthetic Organic Compounds: Las Vegas Wash And Lake Mead, National Water Quality Assessment Program (Nawqa): Nevada Basin And Range

Publications (WR)

The Nevada Basin and Range (NVBR) study unit of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program is investigating the status of, trends in, and factors affecting water quality in the Las Vegas area. A principal objective of the investigation is to assess the effects of urbanization on the quality of area water resources. Las Vegas Wash is the surface-water outlet for the Las Vegas area. The wash transports stormwater runoff, shallow ground-water discharge, and tertiary-treated sewage effluent from the Las Vegas area to Las Vegas Bay of Lake Mead on the Colorado River. Most of the flow—about 96 …

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 …

Limiting Growth In Las Vegas - A Necessary Growth Strategy For The Twenty-First Century, Cheryl Ann Frassa

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Land development in the Las Vegas Valley continues at an unprecedented rate and future growth will no doubt be strongly advocated. Yet, water resources in this desert area are finite, and in the near future, supply will fall short of demand. Plans are underway to supplement the existing supply, and proposals to secure additional sources are under investigation. But there are no guarantees these ambitious endeavors will materialize. In light of the pending water crisis, the pervasive "growth at all cost" policies now dominant in the valley must be abandoned and more realistic land-use policies developed; ones based on the …

Updating The Colorado River Compact, Jeffrey A. Freer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Water is essential to life in the arid environment of the western United States. For centuries, humans have used the Colorado River to fulfill their needs and until the past 100 years, the use of the river was sustainable. Over the last 100 years, the Colorado River has been dammed and diverted to "reclaim" the arid west for man's use. In 1946, a Department of the Interior report stated that "Tomorrow the Colorado will be utilized to the very last drop. Its water will convert thousands of additional acres of sagebrush desert to flourishing farms and beautiful homes for servicemen, …

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 …

The Impact Of A Water-Imposed Interruption Of Growth In The Las Vegas Region, William T. White, Thomas M. Carroll, R. Keith Schwer

Publications (WR)

This study is prompted by the expectation that water supplies for the Las Vegas Valley, both those used currently and those additional quantities available from existing sources, cannot sustain significant further economic growth of the region beyond the year 2006.

There are five parts to this study. Part I uses a regional econometric (REMI) model to project the growth of the Las Vegas region to natural maturity, essentially unconstrained by an overriding water shortage.

Part II is a reinforcing cross-section analysis of metropolitan areas in the United States to learn the most common natural growth patterns and those that have …

Temporal And Spatial Variation In Pelagic Fish Abundance In Lake Mead Determined From Echograms, Gene R. Wilde, Larry J. Paulson

Publications (WR)

Echograms have been used extensively to locate and estimate the relative abundance of marine fish stocks (Cushing 1973). In freshwater, echograms have been used to describe vertical (Netsch et al. 1971; Eggers 1978; O'Brien et al. 1984; Matthews et al. 1985), spatial (O'Brien et al. 1984; Wanjala et al. 1986) and temporal (Baker and Paulson 1983) patterns in fish abundance. Although most uses of echograms have been qualitative, Mullan and Applegate (1969) and Matthews et al. (1985) obtained relative estimates of fish abundance by counting targets (fish) on echograms. However, neither Mullan and Applegate (1969) nor Matthews et al. (1985) …

Characterization Of The Aquatic Environment In Lake Mead Near The Proposed Spring Canyon Pumped-Storage Project, And Assessment Of Potential Aquatic Impacts, Charles R. Liston, Stephen J. Grabowski, Bureau Of Reclamation

Publications (WR)

A pumped storage system consists of an upper reservoir and lower reservoir separated by an elevation difference. During low demand energy periods such as nights and weekends water is pumped from the lower to the upper reservoir using available energy from conventional steam electric power plants. During high energy demand periods, such as mornings and afternoons of weekdays, upper reservoir water is allowed to drop back down through the same system of water conduits and turbines, generating electricity to conveniently meet abrupt electrical energy requirements. The same water turbines thus act both as pumps and as conventional hydroelectric turbines. Because …

Environmental Assessment Of Las Vegas Wash And Lake Mead Artificial Wetlands Demonstration Project, John R. Baker, R. M. Gersberg, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Publications (WR)

The effective use of artificial wetlands for treatment of municipal wastewater is well documented; however, design and economic data for artificial wetlands development are limited (Gersberg et al., 1984a). This is due partly to regional differences in climate, soils, and vegetation and partly to the desired waste treatment. As a result, specific treatment levels and cost benefits relative to the use of an artificial wetlands for a particular site cannot be evaluated adequately without a pilot demonstration project. Las Vegas Wash receives sewage effluent from the Las Vegas metropolitan area and has been designated as a wetlands community park. Las …

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 …

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.

Changes In The Morphometry Of Las Vegas Wash And The Impact On Water Quality, Richard A. Roline, James J. Sartoris, U.S. Bureau Of Reclamation

Publications (WR)

Las Vegas Wash, a natural wash east of Las Vegas, Nevada, carries stormwater, groundwater drainage, and sewage effluent from two sewage treatment plants to Lake Mead. Over 80 percent of the normal discharge of approximately 3.4 m³/s (120 ft³/s) consists of effluent from the City of Las Vegas and Clark County sewage treatment plants. Beginning in the 1950s, a large wetland area developed along the wash that supported waterfowl populations and contributed to some water quality transformations. Heavy rains and subsequent flooding in the area in 1983 and 1984 resulted in erosion and channelization that greatly …

Thermal Tolerances And Preferences Of Fishes Of The Virgin River System (Utah, Arizona, Nevada), James E. Deacon, Paul B. Schumann, Edward L. Stuenkel

Publications (WR)

Critical thermal maxima (CTM) and thermal preferenda of the common fishes of the Virgin River were examined. Differences in final temperature preferenda and CTM for species with low thermal lability (speckled dace, spinedace, roundtail chub) correspond well with differences in their distribution and abundance in the river. These species shifted their acute thermal preferences relatively little as acclimation temperature increased. For thermally labile species (woundfin, red shiner, desert sucker, and fiannehnouth sucker), the final preferendum is a less precise indicator of probable distribution. The woundfin, an endangered fish, has a high CTM (39.5 C at 25 C acclimation) and a …

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 …

Seasonal And Spatial Heterogeneity In The Limnetic Zooplankton Community Of Lake Mead, Gene Robert Wilde

Publications (WR)

Zooplankton samples collected from throughout Lake Mead, in 1981-1982, demonstrate the presence of a statistically significant seasonal and spatial heterogeneity in zooplankton densities. Seasonally, the major zooplankton groups were most abundant in the spring and fall, coincident with maxima in chlorophyll-a concentrations. Successions among the various rotifers, cladocerans and copepods present in the reservoir were influenced by food availability, diapause, predation by planktivorous fish and, possibly, water temperatures. Spatial heterogeneity in zooplankton densities was unrelated to water temperature, pH, conductivity and dissolved oxygen concentrations, but was related to the abundance of phytoplankton (chlorophyll-a concentrations) and fish. Statistical analyses indicate that …

The Role Of Nannoplankton In The Phytoplankton Dynamics Of Four Colorado River Reservoirs (Lakes Powell, Mead, Mohave, And Havasu), Jeffrey John Janik

Publications (WR)

Phytoplankton species composition and community size structure were studied in four warm-monomictic Colorado River reservoirs; lakes Powell, Mead, Mohave, and Havasu from March 1981 to February 1982. Sampling was done at approximately monthly intervals from several stations in each reservoir. The Utermohl technique was used to enumerate phytoplankton. The phytoplankton assemblage was divided into the following six size classes using microscopic techniques; netplankton (>64 um), and nannoplankton (>5, 5-11, 12-21, 22-44, and 45-64 um).

Total phytoplankton biomass and community size structure were different among these four reservoirs with considerable spatial and temporal variation present. Average reservoir-wide areal weighted …

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 …

Water Quality Trends In The Las Vegas Wash Wetlands, F. A. Morris, L. J. Paulson

Publications (WR)

The Las Vegas Wash is a wetlands ecosystem that acts to buffer the effects of wastewater discharges on the receiving waters of Lake Mead. The wash is the terminus for the 4,144 km2 Las Vegas Valley drainage basin, emptying into Las Vegas Bay of Lake Mead (Colorado River). It is in the northern Mojave desert, which receives an average of only 10 cm of rainfall annually. The Las Vegas Wash is technically an artificial wetland supported almost entirely by the perennial flows from sewage treatment plants. These flows contribute an average of 3-7 t of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and …