Award Date

5-2000

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Environmental Studies (MES)

Department

Environmental Science

Number of Pages

34

Abstract

Jet skis are a very popular "toy" to have in the United States. They account for almost a third of all boat sales, and their numbers are growing rapidly. Unfortunately jet skis use two-cycle engines that pollute at unacceptable levels. Jet ski motors can emit up to 25% of its fuel right back into the water. This alarmed me and I wanted to take a deeper look into how bad jet skis pollute Las Vegas' primary water source. Lake Mead. I looked into how a two-cycle engine differs from a regular engine and I looked at the actual pollutants a two-cycle emits. After some background, I examined the water quality on Lake Mead to see if there was a contamination problem. From the data uncovered the local agencies feel there is no need for concern, and my thesis that jet skis should be banned from Lake Mead was not supported at all.

Keywords

Benzene s; Ethyl benzenes; Jet skis; Lake Mead National Recreation Area; Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE); Personal watercrafts (PWC); Toulenes Two-cycle engines; Water pollution; Water quality; Xylenes

Disciplines

Environmental Monitoring | Environmental Sciences | Fresh Water Studies | Natural Resources Management and Policy

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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