Water rates to rise in September

Wednesday, July 16, 2003 | 11:26 a.m.

Among the measures that go into effect immediately:

Measures that go into effect Aug. 1:

Rules that are likely to take effect, depending on the status of the drought, Jan. 1:

Water users in Las Vegas and unincorporated parts of Clark County will soon face tough new restrictions on the outdoor use of water, along with higher rates.

The Clark County Commission passed the restrictions and, acting as the Las Vegas Valley Water District board, passed the new rates Tuesday by 6-0 votes in two separate public hearings. The Las Vegas City Council passed similar outdoor-use restrictions Monday.

The rules are in response to what officials have called the worst drought on the Colorado River in 1,400 years, a drought that has sent levels of Lake Mead plummeting, raised calls for a moratorium on construction development and prompted a variety of methods to encourage conservation.

"It's a reckoning," Commissioner Myrna Williams said. "People are going to have to come to the fact that this is a desert and we are growing, and we cannot continue on the way we are going."

Most residents and businesses will not start to use the higher-priced water until Sept. 1, and should receive the first bills reflecting the new rates in October.

The typical home will see a 22 percent increase or about $4 a month, according to the water district.

Those that use the smallest amounts of water will have the smallest rate increases -- about 4 percent, or a little over a dollar a month, for those water misers.

But heavy residential users, who can run through six times what some homeowners use, will pay about 40 percent more, totaling hundreds of dollars throughout the year.

The rate increase is the first in eight years, and water district staff told the commissioners that Southern Nevada users will still pay among the lowest rates in the country or the desert Southwest.

Golf course owners and operators, who had objected to provisions setting "budgets" that heavily penalized heavy water use, were largely exempted from the rules passed Tuesday, although they, like other heavy users, will pay 40 percent more for their water.

The combined measures are designed to trim 8 percent from the current water use in the valley.

The county commission, acting on advice from the water district staff, set an Aug. 5 hearing for imposition of the new rules for golf courses. Pat Mulroy, general manager of both the water district and the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the region's water wholesaler, said the temporary hold on the golf course requirements does not mean they are getting off easy.

At a cost of more than $3 per 1,000 gallons, the golf courses will immediately start paying the highest rates in Southern Nevada, Mulroy said. She said the requirements that they start living within a budget of 6 acre-feet of irrigation on their fairways and greens is still the plan, although some "technical issues" have to be worked out.

Golf course operators, including Stan Spraul of Southern Highlands, argue that the amount is too little to maintain a golf course.

"I still don't buy that it's not doable," Mulroy said.

A handful of residents protested both the rate increases and the restrictions on outdoor use. Most of those who objected said they understand the need for conservation -- but asked for an exemption.

One of the more contentious issues was a new rule prohibiting large fountains or similar "water features" for residences and small businesses. The rule does not apply to resorts, many of which incorporate water themes into their businesses and so are important economically, the water agencies reckon.

Earle Scholl, a resident of the Western Oasis subdivision near Sahara Avenue and Decatur Boulevard, said the central feature of his community is two streams in the middle of the complex.

"We'd like to maintain what we have," Scholl said. "They are our main feature. We are in favor of conservation but we feel we've cut back."

Another protestor, who identified himself as perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche's representative, suggested that new technology and a pipeline to Alaska would provide all the water Southern Nevada needs.

Richard Lozo, who lives near the Strip, had another solution. He saluted the staff work, and the work of a conservation committee that came forward with the recommendations for higher rates and other measures, but said they did not go far enough.

"The price I'm paying for water is very, very fair," Lozo said. "The problem I see here: Are we going about the right way to conserve water?

He said it is time to ration the resource.

"Don't charge them if they use too much. Cut them off."

Commissioners said the community must understand the crisis that is growing.

"We live in the desert and Mother Nature has not been cooperative," Commissioner Rory Reid said. "This is a crisis. It threatens our quality of life. It threatens our economy. It begs the question of whether we can sustain the growth we've had over the last couple of years."

He said the plans approved Tuesday may not be perfect, but they are a step forward.

"I don't think there's any question that we need to do something and we need to do it today."