The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded $15 million to the State of Nevada this month, aimed at improving pollution control and drinking water infrastructure, things we think are of the utmost importance here at Wetlab.

The funding goes to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP), broken down into a $6.5 million grant for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, according to an article found on waterworld.com, and $8.5 million for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.

The grants are just the latest in more than $320 million in EPA funding awarded over the last 24 years, according to Jared Blumenfeld, the EPA’s regional administrator.

“Without this investment and creative financing at the federal level, many communities would not be able to provide for Nevadans’ basic needs for clean, safe drinking water and proper wastewater treatment,” Blumenfeld said.

In the past, according to the article, EPA money has funded new well construction aimed at decreasing arsenic levels in Tonopah, as well as advanced wastewater treatment in Clark County to reduce bacteria and chemicals making their way into Lake Mead.

Other water quality projects from the NDEP have ranged from non-point source pollution control, watershed protection and restoration, water efficiency improvements, wastewater reclamation, and other wastewater treatment projects on the Clean Water State SRF side, as well as drinking water infrastructure on the Drinking Water SRF side.

Water Supply News

On the supply side of our state’s water news, southern Nevada looks like it’s going to get some reprieve from dry conditions thanks to a wet fall on the Rocky Mountains’ west slope, according to mynews3.com.

The Colorado River Commission reported rainfall in some areas of up to 50 percent above normal for the month of September, which will help the more-than-half-empty Lake Mead, the primary water supply for Las Vegas.

Lake Mead is at 1,104 feet, anything below 1,075 is considered a shortage.