North Las Vegas, Clark County teaming to keep Sloan Channel bug-free
A little over a year after insects infested the area along the Sloan Channel, the bugs are at bay, and the city of North Las Vegas and Clark County are working together to keep it that way. That doesn’t mean they’ve ended their battle in court.
The tangle began when North Las Vegas built a wastewater treatment facility on Nellis Air Force Base property bordering Sunrise Manor. Initial plans included releasing the wastewater into a multi-entity pipeline, but construction of the pipeline project fell through. On June 9, 2011, city officials began releasing the flow into the county-owned Sloan Channel, a dry channel designed to handle occasional storm run-off. The county argued that the action was illegal. While negotiations and litigation proceeded, the channel became a breeding ground for chironomid midges and mayflies.
“It was so bad we just couldn’t use our backyard anymore,” said Mark Campbell, who lives adjacent to the channel. “They were all over our walls, flying in clouds in the yard, and we couldn’t keep them out of the house.”
The situation has improved this summer, although Campbell has yet to resume his usual backyard cookouts and has drained his swimming pool.
“We were fed up with the whole thing,” he said. “We just turned the backyard off in our minds. I think we may need to just try it out and see what happens. But we aren’t ready yet.”
The change came from aggressive cleaning and pest control efforts led by Clark County Vector Control. The regimen includes channel scraping to remove the algae the midges breed in and repeated application of carefully regulated pest control products.
“We’ve had a few outbreaks here and there this year as we worked out the process, but I haven’t gotten any calls for quite a while now,” said Clark County Vector Control supervisor Chris Bramley. “We’ve got a good system in place. I know the people that live there don’t want to see that water going down the channel. But that’s not going to change anytime soon. So we’re dealing with it.”
Vector Control’s initial plans called for monthly cleanup and treatment of the channel, but it soon became apparent that wasn’t aggressive enough.
“The channel gets sunlight almost all day, and that, combined with high quality of the water, really promotes the algae growth,” Bramley said. “Now there is someone working in some part of the channel every day.”
Frequently the people cleaning the channel are contractors hired by the city of North Las Vegas.
“On the average, we’ve got a couple of people in there five days a week,” said North Las Vegas utilities director Reed Scheppmann. “We want to be, if anything, overly proactive on it.”
In addition to the scraping and pest treatment, the city released about 2,000 gambusia affinis, commonly called the Western mosquitofish, into the channel last fall. But that tactic was abandoned.
“The mosquitofish probably did some good,” Scheppmann said. “But the water is flowing so fast, it isn’t an effective measure. We’re still looking for better ways to manage the channel.”
While the county is still the lead agency, Scheppmann said the city is taking an active role in the cleanup. He estimates the city is spending $5,000 to $7,000 monthly on the project. The two agencies meet every other week to schedule which agency will work on which section of the channel when, based on staff and equipment availability.
While Campbell is cautiously optimistic about the insect situation, he still isn’t pleased with the new river running past his backyard and the way the city is handling things. He cites a hastily rescheduled meeting in June that only a handful of Sloan Channel-area residents heard about in time to attend. A Feb. 28 meeting of the city of North Las Vegas Utility Advisory Board at the North Las Vegas City Council chambers drew around 50 residents who spoke out about the channel.
Campbell is one of many who are concerned that the constant water running down the channel may be leaking through and causing potential damage.
“We’re noticing a lot of plants growing in the sides of the channel. And that makes us think the water is getting through it,” Campbell said. “It makes me wonder if water might be getting through cracks in the channel and washing it out underneath. We just don’t know it, because we haven’t seen a sinkhole yet.”
Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins, whose District B includes parts of the Sloan Channel area and the city of North Las Vegas, said talks between the city and the county have stalled.
“We were real close to an agreement,” Collins said. “We were so close that the judge postponed things, because he thought we had something worked out.”
Collins said a number of solutions had been bandied about, including a pipeline running inside the channel. His understanding is that that plan is untenable, as a pipe large enough to handle the capacity flow of 25 million gallons per day from the wastewater treatment facility would impede the primary use of the channel. According to Scheppmann, the facility is releasing only 17 million gallons per day currently.
“As I understand it, they’re looking at running a pipe underground along the west side of the channel,” Collins said. “That’s an expensive proposition.”
Gale Fraser, general manager of the Clark County Regional Flood Control District, said his department is being kept abreast of all the possible solutions.
North Las Vegas City Manager Tim Hacker thinks the city and county are making progress.
“I think the butting heads didn’t get us very far, and it’s the residents that suffer,” he said. “I think cooler heads will prevail, and we’ll all get focused on solving the issues that may or may not be out there. I think we’re making pretty good headway.”
Bramley said it’s the peak time of the year for his department, when there is more pest and vegetation pressure, but he’s very satisfied with the work of his staff and all of the crews he is working with.
“I’m in there almost daily, surveying, counting larvae and making sure everything is getting cleaned properly,” Bramley said. “I’ve done some night surveys, and it’s been real nice. We’re just working a little harder, a little faster and keeping our noses to the grindstone. Sometime in the middle of October we’ll look up and take a breath.”
Mark Skougard, who lives near the channel said that last year, at the height of the infestation, bats and spiders were being drawn by the insects, and a bat flew into his wife’s car. With the insects under control, he hasn’t noticed many bats about anymore.
“Whatever they’re doing, it’s working,” Skougard said.
Contact Sunrise/Whitney View reporter F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@viewnews.com or 380-4532.
