Restoration of severely damaged Las Vegas Wash is a focus of DRI research.

The Las Vegas Wash was once a source of abundant natural resources. Rapid urban growth in Las Vegas Valley began with construction of the Hoover Dam and continues today. Once plentiful, the wetlands served to purify the urban valley flows on their way to Lake Mead. Over the years, erosion in the wash has reduced wetlands from approximately 2,000 acres to about 200. Some of the most severe damage in the wash has resulted from rare but severe rainstorms and consequent flooding.

The U.S. Corp of Engineers has sponsored the work of hydraulic engineers and ecological researchers with the DRI to analyze flow patterns, erosion processes, and sediment transport mechanisms in the Las Vegas Wash. An advanced computational model developed by DRI's Jennifer Duan is being used to simulate the hydrodynamic processes affecting the wash. The goal is to assist land managers in designing appropriate restoration projects that lead to a new level of service and function in the wash. (more)

DRI researchers investigate flood hazards associated with some of Nevada’s newest prime real estate.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has sponsored a pilot project conducted by DRI aimed at assessing hydrologic characteristics of alluvial fans in arid zones. These depositional environments typically form at the base of mountains where there is a marked break in the slope. Continuous deposits of water-transported material build up over time, much like the formation of a delta. Due to the phenomenal growth and development in Nevada, alluvial fans are becoming prime areas for expansion. Soil and hydrology scientists with the DRI are working to improve capabilities for identifying hydrologic responses of alluvial fans, in particular, surface runoff and infiltration. Flooding can occur quickly resulting in severe impacts on communities, and infrastructure. However, the role that soil plays in the flooding process in not well understood. DRI researchers are gathering data and developing predictive models needed by land managers to advance effective strategies in managing these floodplains.(more)

Zeroing in on ozone in the Las Vegas Valley.

Ozone pollution in urban Las Vegas, Nevada, has become a major focus for local governmental air-quality agencies, since the city was declared a nonattainment area for ozone. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made this official designation in the early fall of 2004. As a first step in remediating high episodes of local ozone, the Clark County Department of Air Quality and Environmental Monitoring (DAQEM) and the EPA are sponsoring an upper-atmospheric air-quality study to investigate the sources of ozone, as well as the contributing factors leading to increased levels in the Las Vegas Valley. These two organizations have turned to researchers within DRI’s Cooperative Institute for Atmospheric Sciences and Terrestrial Applications, known as CIASTA, to conduct the study. An interdisciplinary research collaboration among the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and educational institutions within the Nevada System of Higher Education, CIASTA offers research meteorologists and air-quality scientists well-experienced in sleuthing out air-quality troublemakers. (more)

New device can determine potential for ground surfaces to produce fugitive dust.

DRI researchers have joined others with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Agency to develop the “SWIRLER.” This device is capable of quickly assessing soil surfaces to determine susceptibility for generating a component of air pollution referred to as fugitive dust. This capability has potential to pinpoint quickly and inexpensively sources of windblown dust thus reducing and even preventing fugitive dust emissions from reaching health-threatening levels. Most recently, this new technology has attracted research funding from the U.S. Navy Facility Engineering Service Center to evaluate a dust-suppression technology. The study was conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Nevada Test Site. Using an improved version of DRI’s original prototype SWIRLER, Etyemezian and colleagues compared the dust-lofting potential of specific land surfaces before and after treatment with the new technology. Another study funded by the California Department of Water Resources is utilizing the SWIRLER to help determine the quantities of fugitive dust that would result from increasing the amount of exposed shoreline at the Salton Sea. (more)