Plan OK’d to curb water use

Friday, Feb. 21, 2003 | 11:31 a.m.

Weathering a verbal barrage from persistent critics of the agency, the board of the Southern Nevada Water Authority passed a plan Thursday to deal with more than three years of drought that has threatened Las Vegas' water supply.

Water authority officials cautioned that the plan is only a blueprint for the rules and regulations they hope local cities and the county will adopt in the coming weeks. Their goal is to have new restrictions on water use and landscaping, and penalties for misuse in place by early summer -- historically the period when water use doubles.

Water authority General Manager Pat Mulroy cautioned that much of the hard work now goes to the cities and the county, which will have to implement and enforce the new restrictions.

"This is not an adoption of the regulations," she said.

But the rules, when implemented, "will not be easy," Mulroy said. The rules "begin to put in question where we live, the Mojave Desert."

The impetus for the plan is a drought that reduced by 60 feet the waterline of Lake Mead, the source of 85 percent of Clark County's drinking water. Mulroy warned that by January, the lake will likely have dropped another 20 feet, and the federal Interior Department will have to reduce water use for all Colorado River water users to their basic allotment.

The board adopted the plan with a 4-0 vote. It was the second time it has voted on the plan. A vote to pass it last month had to be recalled after the water authority failed to distribute copies of the draft plan to all those who requested it, a violation of the state's open meeting requirements.

This time around, the board heard three hours of protests on the plan and virtually every aspect of the water authority's presence in Southern Nevada.

Ed Duffy, one of a multitude of critics, called the plan "propaganda," and accused the agency of engaging in "criminal activity" and "sweetheart deals" in the purchase of water rights.

"You do not have a clue as to what the public sees and understands about the activities of the Southern Nevada Water Authority," he said. "The water authority has failed in its primary mission" -- delivering water to Clark County consumers.

Like many other speakers, Duffy criticized the water authority for allowing population growth to continue. Growth, he insisted, is the real threat to the water supply.

Ken Mahal, president of the Nevada Seniors Coalition, a supporter of Nevada Power Co. in that company's tussle with the water agency over public versus private power delivery and a dedicated opponent of anything related to Mulroy's agency, joined the chorus.

"The reality is: We are out of water and we have no alternative until we get more water but to stop growth," Mahal said. "Water conservation will not stop the drought.

"You are failing your primary mission of matching available water with projected growth."

And Fred Anderson, president of the Lake Mead Boat Owners Association, rapped the board members for their "blessing of continued population growth."

"We're going to be forced into water rationing but you will still allow businesses and local governments to grow," Anderson said. He called for an immediate halt to all new construction in Clark County.

Water authority board chairwoman and Henderson Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers disagrees with the critics' analysis and remedy.

"We have a group of people here who say, 'Let's stop growth,' " she said. "You are part of growth. ... We are all part of our growth."

Board member and Boulder City Councilman Bryan Nix, who lives in and represents a community with slow-growth laws in place, said the water authority does not have the authority to stop new construction. He also said one of the reasons that plan exists is to control the impact a sudden cutoff of water would have on the local economy.

A halt to new construction would have a huge impact on the economy, Nix said.

"The solutions we have in Boulder City are not necessarily appropriate for all the cities," he said.

Other critics took a more narrow approach. Representatives from the golf course industry asked for, but did not get, the board to remove references to their industry. The drought plan calls for financial penalties for courses using more than average amounts of water.

"Severe economic and business impacts will result from the current drought plan," said Don Barsky, president of the Nevada Golf Course Owners Association.

But board members and water authority staff said the venue for the golfing industry to fight or modify the rules will be in the cities and county governments. Mulroy also argued that golf courses in other desert cities use far less water than Las Vegas' courses.

Nix and Mulroy said the forced conservation measures included in the plan are needed to put Southern Nevada in a place where it can successfully negotiate with other Colorado River water users.

The region, with its flamboyant commercial uses of water and profligate residential and commercial irrigation, is seen as a waster of water, Mulroy said.

"We have been flogged all over the planet for being one of the biggest water wasters around," she said. Southern Nevada residents are, per person, the biggest users in the Southwest, with a third higher consumption than users in Phoenix, even after taking into account the Arizona city's higher rainfall totals, Mulroy said.

Efforts to get more water from the river will suffer if the region doesn't have credibility at the negotiating table, Nix said.

"We don't have a voice unless people take us seriously," he said. "If we are going to address it, we can't be seen as wasters."