MARK WAITE / PVT Wheeler Wash descends in great curving sweeps from the high Spring Mountains to the east of Pahrump. MARK WAITE / PVT Wheeler Wash winds down from the Spring Mountains toward the Winery subdivision. Advertisement

It wasn't hard to visualize where a barrier could be put to block the flood waters from raging down Wheeler Wash: probably the spot where Nye County Commissioner Peter Liakopoulos stood underneath a boulder, where the wash isn't even wide enough for an all-terrain vehicle to pass.

Nine different locations were identified for dams to block the floodwaters from coming off the Spring Mountains, and they could be constructed one at a time as funding permits, Liakopoulos said.

The new commissioner has made a flood control and water recreation project on Wheeler Wash one of his priorities.

A dam blocking off Wheeler Wash made a lot more sense to some people than an outdoor recreation area there, which has aroused some local ridicule.

Nye County Public Works Director Samson Yao said he sees the possibility of both projects during a recent tour of the wash.

Liakopoulos envisions Pahrump residents having their own version of South Fork Reservoir near Elko or Cave Lake near Ely.

"There's not enough water if you relied on rain," Yao said. "The thing we can do is we could recirculate the water from the ground, pump it up. The other is to bring the effluent from our sewage plant up there, to recharge it."

The project is actually in Clark County, although Yao said officials with the Clark County Regional Flood Control District endorsed the project on the west side of the Spring Mountains -- as long as they don't have to pay for it.

Nevada law allows Nye County to construct a flood control project that encroaches on a neighboring county, but Yao said the Clark County Planning District would still have to approve the plan.

The concept is easy to talk about; the funding is another matter.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reviewed the proposed flood water retention basin and concluded it would cost $33 million, Yao said.

"The problem with their concept is that you either pay $36 million or you get nothing. In this case here, you can get one at a time, pay as you go and by the time you're finishing you may pay $33 million, but it would be a long time and you're getting the accumulated benefit until you get 100-year (storm) protection," Yao said.

The Winery subdivision was hit hard by flooding in early September 2003 and on numerous other occasions. It lies downhill from Wheeler Wash, a 92-square-mile catchment area.

The average monsoon season in late summer and early fall produces about one inch of rain, but in some years it has produced as much as four inches. Rock-hard, dry ground can turn downpours into rushing torrents of water.

Liakopoulos said the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, funded by proceeds of land auctions, can provide money for a recreational project but not a flood control project. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management raised a huge sum of money, $2.7 billion, through 22 land auctions from the time the act was passed through March 31, according to BLM statistics.

BLM used over $1 billion for parks, trails and natural areas, $337 million to acquire environmentally sensitive land and $230 million for Lake Tahoe restoration projects.

Clark County began a long process of establishing a flood-management district when Las Vegas started to expand, Yao said

"Let's take a look at how we protect this area. How do we protect the winery first?" Yao asked. "The county has some interest in protecting some existing neighborhoods."

Nye County commissioners last December awarded a $19,970 contract to the firm of Bureau Veritas/Berryman and Henigar, to perform a hydrological analysis for Wheeler Wash to support efforts to obtain BLM approval for construction of a temporary diversion channel reducing road washout in the winery area.

Liakopoulos sees part of Wheeler Wash as suitable for a dam that would create a pond of one to two acres, deep enough to hold fish.

"You'd have a great rock bottom," he said.

The gravel surface of the wash would help filter recycled effluent, if that were used, Liakopoulos said.

A map of the project, prepared by environmental consultant Mary Ellen Giampaoli for Nye County's congressional lobbyist, Rick Spees, shows nine dams, each 65 feet deep, could store a combined 3,464 acre feet of water.

A diversion channel blocking off the Winery Road subdivision, stretching from Wheeler Pass Road to Gravel Pit Road, was also drawn in the plans.

"Let's set aside some land so we have an area where you can go for a hike. No matter how much the valley's built up you can still come up here, spend some time with the family, do some hunting and fishing," Liakopoulos said.

While he talked like an outdoorsman, Yao liked the idea a lot of the Pahrump Valley effluent that now flows into California could be captured and recycled in a water recreation area. The quality of recycled effluent can be quite good, he said.

The rapid growth in Pahrump means the county will have to deal with where to discharge increasing amounts of effluent discharge in the future, Yao said. Some of that water is currently used for irrigation of golf courses or crops.

The Focus Property Group has plans to construct a retention pond capturing water from Carpenter Canyon farther south, Liakopoulos said.

"This way, a little at a time, it becomes something you can budget in the Nye County budget. You've got to take a look at protecting the homes. We're ahead of the curve," the commissioner said.

"Besides having recreation that's good for the community, we have recharge and flood control," Liakopoulos said, "even if it takes 10 or 12 years from today to complete it."