Editorial: Sometimes it takes a two-by-four

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2004 | 8:48 a.m.

Two stories in Monday's Las Vegas Sun about the valley's response to the drought are separately encouraging and dispiriting. It's heartening that in the past year so many homeowners and businesses have taken advantage of the Southern Nevada Water Authority's turf conversion program, turning roughly 12 million square feet of grass into desert landscaping. On the down side, however, fountains at some businesses continue to run despite a ban on their use by the Las Vegas Valley Water District. During the past three weeks the water district has fined at least eight businesses for operating their water fountains.

The company with the most citations is land developer Triple Five, which has had fines issued for seven different fountains. Triple Five's Boca Park Shopping Center, at Charleston and Rampart boulevards, alone has been fined four times for a total of $1,280. Triple Five, whose international headquarters is in Edmonton, Canada, claims the overlapping set of water restrictions by a variety of government entities is confusing, saying that it's trying to make sense of the issue. What nonsense. Not many other companies in the valley are having a similar problem.

Triple Five has every right to appeal the fines, but until there is a resolution of this dispute, the Canada-based corporation should turn off the fountains. The water district does hold one trump card that it hasn't played yet -- it can shut off water to Triple Five's properties if the company refuses to abide by the government's restrictions. It would be interesting to see the reaction from some of Triple Five's tenants, such as Target, if their water taps suddenly went dry. Something tells us it wouldn't take long for Target's CEO to get on the phone and light into Triple Five's management for obstinately refusing to live with water restrictions in the desert. But maybe that's what it will take to get the attention of Triple Five and other companies refusing to turn off their fountains, to let them know just how serious we in Southern Nevada take the dr ought.