Park on West Nile alert

Arroyo Grande Sports Complex mosquitoes tested positive for virus

Athletes and neighboring residents of the Arroyo Grande Sports Complex can blame rising groundwater tables for the park's West Nile Virus alert issued by the city of Henderson on Aug. 13.

According to the Clark County Public Works Vector Control, 22 of 156 mosquitos in a sample taken from the park at 298 N. Arroyo Grande Blvd. tested positive for the virus, which had been contracted by four people in Clark County as of Aug. 23.

City officials are spending the next several weeks trying to rid the 60-acre Green Valley park of the deadly virus. One week after the announcement, warning signs lined the sports complex and a section in the southeast part of the park was fenced off from the public.

Joe Damiani, project engineer for the city's Public Works Department, said groundwater has collected at field 10, the lowest section of the park. The field is in close proximity to a flood control basin. When underground water rises to the surface, it creates patches of standing water, where mosquitoes breed. Damiani and his crew plan first to dry out the area so they can then move in with heavy equipment and demolish the field.

One week after the West Nile virus alert, Damiani was waiting for approval from the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection to discharge groundwater from the field. He said the process involves digging a 10-foot deep trench to pump water out of the ground.

"We're just waiting for the authority to start the process," he said.

Once the ground is dry, public works will be called out to the site again to spray insecticide to kill any adult mosquitoes. Only then will workers be able to enter the site and demolish the field, including problematic vegetation covering the area.

"It just creates a swampy area, so we can't even get in there to assess what's going on," Damiani said.

By the last week of August, Damiani hopes to have a contractor on board to destroy the field.

Vicki Taylor, assistant to the city manager, said despite warning signs posted at the park and announcements mailed to nearby residents, the news has not affected the park's regular sports schedule. The complex features close to a dozen athletic fields.

"This is the largest sports complex in Nevada," she said. "It's very popular."

Taylor said the city has had difficulties in the past trying to drain groundwater at the sports complex.

"We check all of our parks for standing water," she said. "It's a matter of geography in that whole area, and it's been a problem."

Jim Norman, director of Henderson Parks and Recreation, has been dealing with rising groundwater at the Arroyo Grande Sports Complex since taking over the director position more than a year ago.

He said public works was called in less than two years ago to place granular insecticide on the water's surface to kill mosquito larvae, but the water levels kept increasing, more so than in previous years.

"This has been a small nuisance area, where it actually covered over an acre," he said.

Before the West Nile virus announcement, Norman last met with CCPWVC in April and discussed the possibility of turning the area into wetlands. But he said he cannot think of developing a new site in the park until the issue at hand is stabilized.

"We are still continuing to have water there," he said. "It is still increasing, so we're now just going to continue with the process of getting the water out."

To help prevent contracting the West Nile virus, the city encourages residents to take the precautionary steps suggested by the Clark County Health District, which include using insect repellent, wearing long sleeved shirts and avoiding outdoor activity two hours before sunset and one hour before sunrise when mosquitoes are most active.


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