As general manager and chief engineer of the Clark County Regional Flood Control District in Southern Nevada, I feel a response is necessary to the opinion piece written by Jim Schnieder as it relates to Clark County. 

While some points made in the op-ed may be true for areas outside of Clark County, local governments in Clark County have been quite proactive at developing a well-funded program that provides highly engineered and well-maintained dam structures for flood control in the county’s urban areas.

Of the 122 existing dams mentioned in the op-ed that are in Clark County, 74 are part of the flood control district’s system and those are all located in the urbanized areas of Clark County. A majority of the remaining dams that are not a part of the district’s system are typically smaller structures and are in remote areas. As I am not directly involved with the operations of dams not included in the district’s system, I recommend that Mr. Schnieder contact the Nevada Division of Water Resources dam safety division to discuss its efforts to inspect and engage dam owners regarding maintenance and operation of their structures.

State legislation passed in 1985 added NRS 543 to the Nevada Revised Statutes, which authorized the creation of flood control districts in Nevada. The Clark County Board of Commissioners created the flood control district by county statute in 1986. A dedicated funding source that is used solely for the purpose of design, construction and maintenance of the flood control system was approved by a vote of the citizens of Clark County. 

Our agency is responsible for managing this funding and we work closely with Clark County Public Works and the public works agencies for all five of the incorporated cities in Clark County to ensure that all 74 of the dam structures on the National Dam Inventory are well inspected and maintained. So, in Clark County the elected state and local government officials had the forethought to create a program with adequate funding to operate and maintain the dam structures that are a part of the flood control district’s system.

All of the dam structures under the jurisdiction of the flood control district are considered high hazard because they were built to protect existing structures, including homes, businesses, schools, etc. As noted in the op-ed, this is not a designation based on the condition of the dam, but rather the risk of loss of what the dam is protecting downstream. These dams only store water during flood events, which is infrequent in the arid southwest. 

Concerns raised such as earthquake loading, seepage, future growth of the community, spillway capacity and runoff in excess of the design storm among many other concerns are all addressed in the engineered design. None of the 74 dams rely on gates or pumps to operate.

We would be pleased to have Mr. Schnieder come by our office at 600 S. Grand Central Parkway, Suite 300, in Las Vegas to show him the current and planned systems we have in place and explain our funding, design, construction and maintenance policies for flood control district dam structures in Clark County.

Steven C. Parrish is the general manager and chief engineer for the Clark County Regional Flood Control District.

The Nevada Independent welcomes informed, cogent rebuttals to opinion pieces such as this. Send them to [email protected].