Related projects
This project addresses not only urban flood issues, but also pollution, erosion and habitat loss concerns. The Las Vegas valley is prone to flash floods, which have amplified channel erosion, destroying riparian and wetland vegetation and causing public concern for the survival of this urban riparian corridor.
Coordinated by the Southern Nevada Water Authority, twenty-six agencies are represented on the Las Vegas Wash Coordination Committee, which was initiated in 1998 and oversees this project. Currently 18 – 22 channel stabilization structures are planned to reduce flow range and velocity and sediment load variability, stabilize headcuts and reduce channel slope. Reestablishment of riparian and wetland vegetation and bank stabilization are also components of the project.
Las Vegas Wash. Photo: Las Vegas Wash Coordination Comm. (www.lvwash.org/)
This restoration project is located on the Rio Grande River, in Los Lunas near Albuquerque, New Mexico. This one-mile plus stretch of the naturally flow-braided river had been channeled during the 1960s and subsequent low water levels resulted in the formation of vegetated islands. The area provided habitat for two endangered species, the Rio Grande silvery minnow (Hyboganthus amarus) and the Southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) – but was severely burnt in April 2000.
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Rio Grande, Los Lunas, NM. Photo: USACE, Albuquerque. |
A joint effort between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, the restoration project includes engineering to widen the channel and lower the floodplain, and revegetation and landscaping components.
The Tres Rios Constructed Wetlands project — west of Phoenix, Arizona — resulted from increases in the water quality standards for discharges and includes wastewater treatment facilities, wildlife habitat, recreation amenities and flood protection. This eight-mile stretch of the Salt River, at it’s confluence with the Gila and Agua Fria Rivers, was the subject of a 1993 study evaluating reuse options.
The resulting plan, developed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, was to ascertain whether or not constructed wetlands could treat effluent to comply with future National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit requirements. This project was undertaken by the city of Phoenix, Arizona, representing five cities of the Sub-Regional Operating Group, in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and has proved successful so far - now including in-channel restoration and revegetation components.
Tres Rios Wetlands. Photo: City of Phoenix (http://phoenix.gov/)
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