Bug-attracting NLV waste water bound for underground path

Bugs shouldn’t bother North Las Vegas residents living on Sloan Channel anymore.

The city announced Wednesday that construction crews finished a section of underground pipeline that will take treated waste water from its reclamation facility, near Owens Avenue, toward the Las Vegas Wash. Since 2011, up to 20 million gallons a day that flowed through a five-mile section of the channel near homes had attracted summertime swarms of gnats and flies.

That shouldn’t happen in the future, the city said, now that the effluent will take a subterranean path on its eventual route to the wash, and eventually to Lake Mead.

This is the first phase of a $10.8 million project managed by Clark County, the city said. The project didn’t start pleasantly for the two governments. The county owns the channel, but the city started sending the water through it without asking for permission first.

The city and county went to court over it and eventually approved an agreement under which the county will design and build the pipeline. The city will pay for part up front and repay the county, which will front the money, for the remaining amount.

A final section of the pipeline is expected to be completed April 2015.

Contact Ricardo Torres at rtorres@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0381. Find him on Twitter: @rickytwrites