Las Vegas Sun

December 4, 2009

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Letter: There are other ways to get water

Tuesday, Sept. 21, 1999 | 9:23 a.m.

An easy way of "finding water reserves" is greater conservation efforts. For most of the past 25 years, Las Vegas has been among the most wasteful of cities in the Southwest. The Southern Nevada Water Authority should declare something like a 25 percent per capita water reduction goal with the specific means for attaining such a goal.

A second way of finding water reserves is for SNWA to have greater focus on agricultural water conservation. My educated guess is less than $1 out of every $10,000 in SNWA's budget goes for farm conservation. Yet farms probably still consume over 10 times as much Lake Mead water as the entire state of Nevada.

A third route to water is a far greater focus on desalination. Previously, the SNWA had given little or no consideration to this infinite water option. New desalting techniques now promise up to 90 percent cost reduction compared to traditional modes.

Instead SNWA has adopted a Nevada vs. California mentality. This approach is politically imprudent as California has 26 times as many votes in the House of Representatives. These three methods are "home runs" for Nevada and California. Failure to resolutely pursue these methods is a strikeout for Nevada's water future.

MARK BIRD

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