Triple Five using imported water for fountains

Friday, Feb. 20, 2004 | 11:33 a.m.

While the Southern Nevada Water Authority board prepares to debate amendments to drought-inspired water restrictions, one local company has embarked on a potentially problematic course that it says allows fountains to keep running in several local business parks and a shopping center.

Triple Five Nevada Development Corp., a company that racked up more than $2,000 in fines for continuing to operate fountains at its Boca Park Shopping Center at Charleston and Rampart boulevards and at other sites, is using water imported from Washington state for its fountains.

The company had kept its fountains flowing even after the rules were in place both in Las Vegas city limits and unincorporated county areas. Triple Five's fines collectively amounted to more than half of all commercial fines for fountains since August.

Late in January the company turned off the fountains. At least one fountain at the company's Grand Canyon commercial center at Flamingo Road and Grand Canyon Drive is back on, Triple Five Vice President Barry Bender said, and the company has a tanker with 8,000 or 9,000 gallons of water for the other six fountains it has in the service area.

A Las Vegas Valley Water District spokeswoman said Thursday that the practice appears to be a violation of rules in place to conserve water, even if the water is from out of state.

Triple Five asked the Clark County Commission in November for the right to continue operating its fountains in the unincorporated county. No action was immediately taken, and the issue has returned to the county's zoning agenda twice a month since then.

One request was on Wednesday's zoning agenda, but along with two other requests to run fountains by other companies, the issue was tabled until March.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority, working with the county, local city governments and the Las Vegas Valley Water District, is drafting new fountain rules that could allow some business fountains to operate. All of the local governments and agencies have overlapping responsibilities for enforcing the water rules.

The rules banning fountains from operating at businesses except for a three-hour, early morning period for maintenance were implemented across the region last year. The fountain rules generated intensive opposition from a handful of companies, which argued that the fountains were the central draw for their businesses -- principally office parks and shopping centers.

Many of the operators said it was unfair that existing rules allow resorts to keep their fountains on if they submit a water conservation plan to the local government.

Triple Five and other companies lobbied Clark County and Las Vegas to change the rules. Paul Larsen, an attorney for Triple Five, proposed importing water during a December zoning meeting with the Clark County Commission.

The proposal drew fire from Clark County planners and elected leaders, who said it would be very difficult to prove the water actually came from a source other than Lake Mead and that imported water could introduce contamination to the sewers or water system.

Larsen said that he believes that importing water meets the letter of the law for both the county's land-use rules and the water district's service rules. The fountains are disconnected from the public water system, he said.

The water district rules, modeled after the Southern Nevada Water Authority's drought-response guide, exempt "privately owned water rights" from the service rules, Larsen said. The county's parallel land-use rules refer to water waste from the public water system, which Larsen said has been disconnected from Triple Five's fountains.

"So I think both the county code and water authority regulations contemplate having no restrictions on water coming from a private source," he said. "I'm pretty comfortable with our legal position. If the water authority disagreed with us, they wouldn't have put that exemption in the language."

However, the water authority did not contemplate importing water from out of state prior to Larsen's proposal surfacing last year. Tracy Bower, a spokeswoman for the water district, said she was not aware that Triple Five was once again running fountains.

"There's not an exemption for that," she said, and there would not be an exemption under the rule amendments that go to the water authority board next week.

"If we see that it is running and that it's violating service rules or any ordinance, we would conduct an investigation the same way we would for any other violation."

Triple Five's fountains, which have received multiple notices for violating the rules, each could draw more fines of up to $800 per violation about once a month. Bower said any company could appeal a notice of violation to District Court.

"It's disappointing," she said. "Every customer group has been asked to do their part (to respond to the drought).

"I think this violates the spirit of the drought plan."

Bender, of Triple Five, said his company wants to comply with both the letter of the law and the spirit of the restrictions.

"We're operating our fountain at Grand Canyon," he said. "We've imported our water. We've got it stored."

He said the company is writing the water district, the city and the county government to explain what the company is doing. Passers-by should be easily able to note that the fountains are not using water from Lake Mead, Bender said, because signs are up identifying the source of the water.

"We're making every effort, letting the people know it's imported water," he said. "This is not intended to be anything other than an attempt to work within the control guidelines as advised by our counsel (Larsen). ... We're willing to work and want to continue to work with the agencies."

Bender said the company would consider implementing a turf exchange or paying an annual fee if it makes financial sense for Triple Five. He said the company has not finished calculating the cost of using imported water, but noted that one of Triple Five's fountains is 1,800 square feet.

Under the provisions of the rule amendments that go to the water authority board Thursday, it would cost the company $18,000 annually to run the single fountain unless the company found turf to remove.

"I'm getting all our costs in order," he said. "Maybe this whole thing will go away. Eighteen thousand doesn't sound like a lot of money."