Water conservation plans questioned

Tuesday, July 15, 2003 | 9:41 a.m.

Former longtime Las Vegas Councilman Paul Christensen warned a committee Monday that unless the city plans to hire "1,000 water cops" its proposed "aggressive water conservation" ordinance might not be enforceable.

Despite the warning, a committee of City Council members Lawrence Weekly and Janet Moncrief gave a "do pass" recommendation to the bill that has been fast-tracked to Wednesday's City Council meeting to coincide with other entities weighing measures to deal with a four-year drought.

Weekly said additional public comment would be taken Wednesday on the bill, which proposes "to establish aggressive water conservation measures and enhance efficient utilization of water resources."

Christensen, who served as the first chairman of the Southern Nevada Water Authority and pioneered some of the county's water conservation rules, was the only member of the public to speak at Monday's hearing on the bill.

The proposed ordinance is similar to a plan by the Southern Nevada Water Authority that the city adopted in March.

Las Vegas Senior Planner Sean Robertson said the city's ordinance is "based on a model" put together by the Water Authority and, in effect, implements what was passed in March for new and existing homes.

The ordinance "allows for additional standards to be added if this plan does not save water," Robertson said.

Exactly how much effect it will have remains a question. While Henderson, Boulder City and North Las Vegas have their own water departments, Las Vegas does not. Its water needs are served by the Las Vegas Valley Water District, which is overseen by Clark County government.

However, because the Water District and Water Authority cannot force legislation on municipalities, cities must pass ordinances to reflect the policies established by those entities.

"The Water District will be doing most of the enforcement and the city will assist," Robertson said. "Enforcement is going to be difficult. We will do the best we can."

Christensen, who served on the City Council from 1973 until he left in 1985 to successfully run for the Clark County Commission, questions how the city can require homeowners and others to do two opposite tasks.

"You cannot require people to put in landscaping (in front of their homes), then not allow them to use water," Christensen said, noting that measures that are too stringent cannot be enforced unless the city plans to put on "1,000 water cops" to ticket violators.

Christensen, who does some government consulting work but rarely has been seen at public meetings since losing his County Commission seat to Lance Malone in 1996, said he decided to attend Monday's meeting because of frustration of not getting through to City Hall after city inspectors made him stop a driveway repair project at his home in June.

As part of that project, Christensen attempted to repair part of the sidewalk but was stopped because he would be in violation of working on a city right-of-way without a permit.

The irony was that for 40 years Christensen has watered, at his own expense, a 10-foot span of city-owned grass adjacent to the sidewalk on that same city right-of-way in front of his home.

Christensen's calls to City Hall, including to the mayor and Christensen's Council representative, Moncrief, were met with voice mails or with messages left with secretaries that were not returned, he said.

"This is the kind of frustration people face, and the kind that doesn't inspire cooperation," Christensen said today. "I just wanted to get across the message that they cannot expect people to obey something unless it is user-friendly."

The city's bill comes at a time when water is an especially hot issue.

Today the Clark County Commission, acting as the Las Vegas Valley Water District board, was slated to consider rate hikes of 4 percent to 40 percent for residential users and water restrictions in response to the drought depleting surplus water from Lake Mead.

On Thursday the Water Authority staff is scheduled to suggest to its board that the agency convene a panel to look at the economic impact of cutting off water.

Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy has said the problem is not so much growth, but rather waste. Conservation efforts, she said, have focused on residential water use, which represents 65 percent of all water usage in Southern Nevada -- of which nearly two-thirds of that usage is outdoors.