Henderson, NLV residents are less likely to be fined

Friday, Nov. 14, 2003 | 11:28 a.m.

Thousands of businesses and residents across the metropolitan area have chafed under new water restrictions for weeks, part of a regional effort to respond to four years of drought and dwindling water supplies in Lake Mead.

The rules, however, are tougher on some than others. The numbers of inspections and fees assessed indicate that either the water customers in the suburbs are a lot more careful about using the resource than their urban neighbors, or that customers in Las Vegas are a lot more likely to get fined for water waste.

More than 400 water customers in the city of Las Vegas and urban unincorporated Clark County have paid fines for wasting water or failing to abide by new water-use restrictions since the beginning of August.

In the neighboring cities of North Las Vegas and Henderson, not a single fine was issued from Aug. 1 through Oct. 31.

The Las Vegas Valley Water District, the region's largest water distributor, provides residents and businesses in Las Vegas and urban Clark County with water. Squads of about three dozen "water cops," or inspectors, have conducted about 9,500 inspections in the three-month period.

The water district has its own squad of inspectors, and each local municipality also has its own squad.

On a daily basis, they look for and find evidence of water waste -- water running off sidewalks and forming creeks running down roads. They issue warnings and advice on how to correct the problems. And in rare cases they issue fees to go on their customer's bill.

Tracy Bower, a water district spokeswoman, said from Aug. 1 through Nov. 6 the district assessed 248 fees for single-family homes, 75 fees for multi-family complexes such as apartments and condominiums, 96 fees for commercial properties, and 18 fees for water-use violations at government or nonprofit properties.

Brenda Johnson, a spokeswoman for North Las Vegas, had an easier time providing the breakdown for her city.

"No fines have been assessed as of last week for the year related to drought or water waste," she said.

In Henderson, one fine was assessed in November, said city utilities analyst Sherri Collier. There were no fines issued from Aug. 1 through Oct. 31.

"We've been very fortunate that everybody has corrected the problems without needing the fines," Collier said. She said the city has investigated more than 2,000 water-waste and water-use complaints or problems.

In North Las Vegas, Utilities Manager Kirk Medina did not have precise information on the number of investigations conducted, but said customers readily respond to the city's entreaties.

"We've responded to dozens of water waste concerns," Medina said. "In every case, we've been able to assist the customer to make sure that they were adhering to the water-waste rules and it has not been necessary to cite any of our customers."

New water restrictions, which joined pre-existing mandates against water waste, are now in place throughout the urban area. They include a ban on water fountains bigger than 200 square feet for commercial or multi-family properties, restrictions on when and how long residential customers can irrigate their landscaping, restrictions on car-washing and other elements.

Fines for water waste in the three jurisdictions range from $20 for a first-time, residential customer to more than $1,000 for large institutional users who have repeatedly violated the rules.

Representatives of the suburban cities say their focus is on education, not levying fees.

"The point is not to assess the fines, but to take the drought restrictions seriously and change their behavior," Collier said. "We're very pleased that people have responded so well to the courtesy notices and the warning notices."

Vince Alberta, a spokesman for both the water district and the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said that the focus for all the water agencies in the Las Vegas Valley is on education.

The water district is the regional provider for the city of Las Vegas and urban Clark County. The water authority, however, includes representatives from Las Vegas, Clark County and the cities of North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City.

The water authority, Alberta said, wants to see the water restrictions "universally applied," regardless of whether you live in Las Vegas or North Las Vegas, Clark County or Henderson.

"The focus for all of us is education," Alberta said, referring to all the water agencies. "Universally, that's our first goal. Ultimately, we hope that what happens with that education is that people change their habits. We want the community to do a better job of conserving water."

All the government sources interviewed for this story said several factors might lead to a misperception that rules aren't treated as diligently in the suburbs as they are in Las Vegas and Clark County.

One is that the rules governing the drought restrictions haven't been in place very long. Both North Las Vegas and the water district have had their new rules in place since Oct. 1.

Henderson has had its rules in place since Aug. 1, Collier said.

The water district also has a much larger population of service customers, by number of accounts, than Henderson and North Las Vegas' utility services.

Henderson has about 65,000 accounts, North Las Vegas about 54,000, according to their city officials. The water district has 276,000 accounts.

"Our numbers are smaller to begin with," Collier said.

But one difference between the district and the cities is that the water district has had water-waste investigators on staff for years. The cities are just now ramping up to more vigorously investigate violations, officials said.

In Henderson, the city has hired four full-time employees to enforce the new rules, Collier said. They are joining a half-dozen people already on the job full time, and another dozen people whose responsibilities include water-waste compliance at least part time.

While the city may be off to a late start, and education will remain the primary effort, "We will see more fines down the road," Collier said.

"I think there is a warm-up period here," North Las Vegas' Medina said. "This is a beginning for us."

Medina said compliance with the water rules include several customer service representatives, meter readers and soon a new water conservation specialist who will police the rules part-time.

"Our focus is to work with the water customers prior to issuing any administrative fees," he said. "So far, we haven't had any problems convincing them that they have to change.

"When the time comes, we will use that option," he said.

Shari Buck, a North Las Vegas councilwoman and the city's representative on the water authority board, said she is not concerned with the discrepancy between the number of fees for the regional governments.

"We want to educate, and that's the direction we're going," she said, although she didn't rule out using fees as a motivator altogether. "We already have the mindset that we need to conserve and we might not need to issue citations."

Amanda Cyphers, Henderson city councilwoman and water authority board member, did not respond to phone calls. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, a board member, also did not return calls.

All have backed the water authority's proposals, including the fees, that were billed as applying to all customers throughout the urban area.

Clark County Commissioner Myrna Williams, who is also chairwoman of the board of the water district and a water authority board member, also supported the regional rules.

"We have the largest population, so it wouldn't surprise me that we have issued more fines," she said, referring to the water district.

Williams said she couldn't comment on any potential inequity in the application of the rules because she hasn't received any data on the issue from water authority of water district staff.

She said she would be concerned about the issue, if staff analysis discovered inequities.

One person who would like the playing field to be level is Las Vegas Valley Water District customer Dale Davidson, who received several warnings -- but no fine -- for water that splashed onto a sidewalk when he irrigated newly planted sod at his home in the valley's west side.

Davidson would like to level the playing field by eliminating what he called the "ham-handed" approach of the water district. He said fees aren't the best way to motivate people and likes the relatively fee-less approach of the neighboring cities.

"My beef with (the water district) is not over the fact that there is a legitimate need to do this," Davidson said. "It's just the way it's being done. This isn't the way it should be done."

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