Water rates may be raised

Friday, March 22, 2002 | 11:16 a.m.

Efforts to spur conservation might lead to higher prices for some water users in the Las Vegas Valley, a leading water agency official said Thursday.

Pat Mulroy, general manager for both the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Las Vegas Valley Water District, said the increased rates could affect those who are the heaviest water users at residential and business properties.

More thrifty water consumers may see no changes, or even reduced rates, she said.

Rate changes wouldn't affect users until at least next year, water authority officials said.

The water authority is an umbrella organization that provides water for distribution by six regional districts, including the Las Vegas Valley Water District. Water prices for consumers are set by the districts, although the districts work together to guide regional policy.

Better conservation is key to providing water into the year 2050 under a revised water-resource plan presented to the water authority board Thursday.

"We just can't afford to keep dumping it into the ground," Mulroy said. "Conservation has to become the mantra. It just has to be.

"Why do people moving to Las Vegas insist on having Kentucky lawns? It's ludicrous," she said. "We've got to come to grips with our environment."

A conservation plan is under construction at the water authority and could be released in a month or two, she said.

A new pricing system might be tied to stricter penalties and more vigorous enforcement of water-use policies. After a warning, water-wasters can now be fined $1,000 and even be sentenced to jail.

But Mulroy emphatically said the authority isn't ready to release hard numbers on who might be affected by water rate increases and how much they might pay.

In part the mix of increases and possible decreases in rates is due to the "revenue neutral" nature of the water agencies. Systemwide, they cannot charge more than the cost of getting the water and delivering to the customers.

In the Las Vegas Valley Water District, customers are split into four tiers. Prices for a gallon of water go higher as they use more water.

Consumers in the higher tiers could see higher prices to encourage more conservation. Those charges could offset prices charged to consumers who use minimal amounts of water.

Of 2.5 million bills sent to residential consumers in 2000, 35 percent went to the highest two tiers, said Vince Alberta, spokesman for the Las Vegas Valley Water District and water authority. The Las Vegas Valley Water District serves about 800,000 people at 250,000 accounts, and is by far the largest district in Clark County.

But other water districts might not be as eager to raise rates.

Amanda Cyphers, a Henderson city councilwoman and water authority board member, said she believes the pricing system in place now works for the 61,000 accounts using city water.

While Cyphers agreed that conservation has to be emphasized throughout the region, she said any change in the rate structure would have to be well justified.

Henderson now has a two-tiered water system in place.

"The system works for me personally," Cyphers said. "My goal is to always stay in the first tier."

Other districts are already moving to boost conservation by massaging pricing systems. Boulder City is moving to institute a three-tiered pricing structure this year, said Bryan Nix, a city councilman and water authority board member.

He said city utilities officials are now meeting with citizens groups and the tiered system could be in place later this spring for the city's 6,000 water accounts.

Environmentalists have pushed for higher prices for heavier water use. At the Nevada Land-Use Summit held earlier this month in Fallon, environmentalists from across the state joined ranchers and others from rural counties in urging Southern Nevada to use higher prices as a means to encourage water conservation.

Any rate change appears to be at least a year away. Alberta said talks on adjusting the rates could be held in the fall.

But a change in the rates isn't likely until at least 2003, he said.

Considerations of rate changes are nothing new. Water providers such as the city of Henderson take a look at rate structures every two years.

Mulroy said the Las Vegas Valley Water District considered rate changes last year, but shelved the proposal after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the electricity crisis that led to requests for higher power rates.

"The (conservation) message would have gotten lost," Mulroy said. "People would not have viewed it as a conservation measure."