Council OKs water changes

Denise Cardinal

Tuesday, Dec. 9, 1997 | 11:24 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council voted Monday to change the way three of the city's golf courses use water to keep their greens green.

In the past, the city has sold fully treated water to the Desert Pines, The Links and the Stallion Mountain golf courses. Monday, the City Council approved an agreement with the courses stipulating that only partially treated water, known as gray water, will be used.

The agreement was passed unanimously with no discussion. Director of Public Works Richard Goecke negotiated the agreement after his department was asked about switching to gray water by Billy Walters, operator of the The Walters Group, which owns the three courses.

Though gray water hasn't gone through the final treatment process of removing chlorine and ammonia, it's still usable for watering landscape and grass.

Two of the city's water systems will provide the gray water to the courses. The water pollution control facility will service The Links and Stallion Mountain, and the reclamation facility next to Freedom Park will service Desert Pines.

Using gray water makes more than environmental sense, it also makes money for the courses and the city.

Officials say the change will save the city about $300,000 a year from not having to provide the full treatment that drinking water requires. Additionally, the city will earn about $400,000 annually from the sale of gray water to the courses. Before, the links were buying their water from the county.