The Clark County Wetlands Park is the largest park in the Clark County,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

park system. The park is on the east side of the

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

valley and runs from the various

water treatment Water treatment is any process that improves the quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recreation or many other uses, inc ...

plants near the natural beginning of the

Las Vegas Wash Las Vegas Wash is a 12-mile-long channel (an "arroyo" or "wash") which feeds most of the Las Vegas Valley's excess water into Lake Mead. The wash is sometimes called an ''urban river'', and it exists in its present capacity because of an urban po ...

to where the

wash WASH (or Watsan, WaSH) is an acronym that stands for "water, sanitation and hygiene". It is used widely by non-governmental organizations and aid agencies in developing countries. The purposes of providing access to WASH services include achievi ...

flows under

Lake Las Vegas Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, Nevada, refers to a reservoir and the developed area around the reservoir. The area is sometimes referred to as the ''Lake Las Vegas Resort''. It is being developed by 5 companies including Lake at Las Vegas Joint ...

and later into

Lake Mead Lake Mead is a reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in the Southwestern United States. It is located in the states of Nevada and Arizona, east of Las Vegas. It is the largest reservoir in the US in terms of water capacity. L ...

. One purpose of the park is to reduce the

environmental impact Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...

of the

waste water Wastewater is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of domestic, industrial ...

and

stormwater runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when the s ...

leaving the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

area, by building a

constructed wetland A constructed wetland is an artificial wetland to treat sewage, greywater, stormwater runoff or industrial wastewater. It may also be designed for land reclamation after mining, or as a mitigation step for natural areas lost to land development ...

. This is being accomplished by installing a series of water flow control structures such as

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

s and

weir A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

s and by creating

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from ...

s that together slow down the flow of the water, catching

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel ...

, and reducing the undercutting of the dirt walls that form the wash. As of June, 2005 nine of these structures were operational. At-the-clark-county-wetlands 15856054602 o

At-the-clark-county-wetlands 15856054602 o

The sides of the wash are being stabilized by installing

native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...

s and large pieces of demolished construction debris. Some of the native plants, especially those in areas of standing water, also help purify the water by removing various

pollutant A pollutant or novel entity is a substance or energy introduced into the environment that has undesired effects, or adversely affects the usefulness of a resource. These can be both naturally forming (i.e. minerals or extracted compounds like o ...

s as the slow moving water provides these plants with nourishment. This method of purification is also called natural water polishing. The second purpose of the park is

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

. The displays within the park show visitors how the wash looked before major settlement occurred in the valley and the impact people have had on the environment. The park has a nature center with displays about the park's plants and animals. There are miles of walking paths.

Species impact

While the end result of the changes in the park should be to improve the habitat for several threatened or endangered species, their presence, even if only for limited periods during the year, has slowed the improvements. Their presence requires projects demonstrate that they will not endanger the existing sites used by these species.

References

External links

*
Las Vegas Wash Coordination Committee
* {{Authority control Parks in Clark County, Nevada Wetlands of Nevada Wilderness areas within the Lower Colorado River Valley Urban public parks Landforms of Clark County, Nevada Education in Las Vegas