Award Date

1-1-2002

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Engineering (ME)

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

First Committee Member

Thomas C. Piechota

Number of Pages

205

Abstract

This thesis develops a better understanding of issues related to surface water contamination and protection of drinking water sources in the Las Vegas Valley. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to identify source water protection zones and to estimate nonpoint source loads for the entire watershed; The extent of the source water protection zones is represented by the valley's dry weather flows. After source water protection zones were defined, field work and GIS defined the potential contaminant sources and land uses within the protection zones; The GIS nonpoint source model shows that roads account for approximately 25% of the Total Nitrogen and 18% of the Total Phosphorus from nonpoint sources. Analysis suggest that a disproportionately high amount of nutrient loads have their origin within the source water protection zones. Approximately 10 to 7 percent of nutrient loads originate in the 5% of the total watershed area represented by protection zones.

Keywords

Assessment; GIS; Las Vegas; Modeling; Nevada; Nonpoint; Source; Valley; Vegas; Water

Controlled Subject

Civil engineering; Environmental engineering

File Format

pdf

File Size

5263.36 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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