Water authority may rethink tough new rules

Monday, Dec. 15, 2003 | 11:09 a.m.

The head of Southern Nevada's two largest water agencies is suggesting that some of the new water-conservation rules slated to take effect Jan. 1 could be relaxed, but she is also warning that even tougher rules will come if a long-running drought continues.

Pat Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Las Vegas Valley Water District, made the comments a few minutes after a high-ranking Interior Department official said the region could lose water from Lake Mead if the drought continues.

Mulroy's agencies have stressed conservation and the new rules as a prelude to going to other states along the Colorado River and trying to win the right to buy water, a prospect that grows as the level in Lake Mead continues to drop.

In a worsening drought Las Vegas agencies would turn to the other states to buy or rent water rights. Mulroy says strong conservation measures are needed because the states could use a lack of conservation as an excuse to deny Nevada.

Two conservation measures have proven to be particularly controversial. Residents are complaining about rules that would prohibit car washing at home for most people and would outlaw the operation of water fountains by most businesses.

Mulroy said the residential car-washing rule has provoked a high volume of protesting calls to the water agencies, so agencies are considering reworking the rule.

"I always expected to make some course corrections en route," she said.

However, Mulroy is not willing to relax the water fountain rule, but she said Friday that could happen after the Las Vegas City Council passed an ordinance Dec. 3 that allows the fountains to keep running if the companies save water in other areas by a 50-to-1 margin.

Mulroy said other governments in the region -- Clark County and the cities of North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City -- would likely follow Las Vegas' lead.

"I don't think the rest of the entities would allow the city (of Las Vegas) to have that competitive advantage," she said.

Peter Thomas, an executive for the Thomas & Mack Co., which successfully championed the new city ordinance, said his company didn't pursue the issue to gain an advantage. He said he thinks the county and other cities should follow Las Vegas' lead.

"I'm after saving real water in the valley," Thomas said. He noted that a failure to conserve water throughout the region could affect the ability to continue developing new properties.

"I'm a commercial developer," he said. "If we don't have water, I'm out of business."

His company spent $300,000 taking out landscaping around property in the city, a move that will save more than 2 million gallons a year, he said. Turning off the fountain at the the Thomas & Mack US Bank Building at Sahara Avenue and Rancho Drive would save only 23,000 gallons, the company has estimated. Thomas called the difference "real savings."

The company is eligible for a rebate of $1 per square foot from the water authority for taking out the grass, but Mulroy said she doesn't think companies should be eligible to receive rebates from the water authority for taking out landscaping and other water-hungry features if they leave their fountains on.

Thomas, who stressed that he appreciates Mulroy's efforts to encourage conservation, disagreed.

"If it was a one-to-one deal, I would agree with her 100 percent," he said. "But that's not what's happening. That rebate is paying a very small percentage of what it's costing me."

The rebate from the water authority will return less than $60,000, a fraction of what the company spent, Thomas said.

The water authority is scheduled to take up the issues of what conservation measures should be in place Thursday. Clark County Commissioner Myrna Williams, who also serves as a member of the water authority board and president of the Las Vegas Valley Water District board, doesn't think the fountain exemption should be extended to other areas.

She said the issue was likely to spark a lively discussion this week.

"It's going to be an interesting meeting," Williams said.

One issue that will probably not be discussed Thursday but will be on a future water authority agenda is growth. A growing chorus of residents and business owners unhappy with the conservation restrictions has suggested that the way to respond to the drought is to stop new development.

Most of the region's political leadership, including the members of Mulroy's boards, have rejected the idea of a growth moratorium. Mulroy said a study of the economic impact of a halt to new development should be presented to the board and the public next month.

Assistant Interior Secretary Bennett Raley talked about growth at the water conference Friday, noting that the pressure to stop growth has come from people who have already moved to Southern Nevada. He called the effort to "shut the door" to newcomers "intellectually interesting," but did not give a further opinion.

"The federal government is not going to play a role in telling people where they can or should live," Raley said. "That's a local issue."

Regardless, the region will be hit hard if the drought continues. New rules, larger fees for water waste and higher prices for water will likely be needed, she said.

The board still needs to discuss what those rules would be, she said. The discussion will go on next year. If the rules are needed, they could go into effect in January 2005.

Mulroy said that if a drought emergency comes, measures could include restrictions on water use at hotels and resorts.

Also looming, perhaps three years down the road if the drought continues, are power cuts. The dam produces 2.08 megawatts, but if the water level gets below 1,083 feet above sea level, the water pressure behind the dam isn't enough to keep the turbines running at full power. One megawatt is about enough power for 1,000 homes.

The drought's impact is still unknown, but Mulroy, Bennett and others who attended last week's water conference said the natural event is changing the way water agencies and the customers look at the resource.

"It's going to redefine the relationship that urban dwellers have with their environment," Mulroy said.