Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

L.A. water agency rains on LV parade

Officials with the water agency serving 25 million users in Southern California are questioning who came up with a program to conserve use first.

Adan Ortega, vice president for Metropolitan Water District, which serves customers including those in Los Angeles, said in a letter and interview Monday that his agency first came up with the idea of a conservation program targeting home builders.

Pat Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority said last month that the Water Smart program for developers was, as far as she knew, the first such program in the country.

"We regret that Ms. Mulroy was probably not aware that the California Friendly Homes program of the family of Southern California water agencies has been under way for two years," Ortega said.

In his letter, Ortega said the California Friendly program shifts the emphasis on savings from indoors to outdoors. The Water Smart program announced by the Southern Nevada agency instead continues an emphasis on outdoor irrigation savings, but also includes new features designed to encourage indoor water conservation.

Ortega said that while Mulroy may not have been aware of the Southern California program, Water Authority staff members were because there have been exchanges of information between the two agencies.

"I know people in Las Vegas were aware of it," he said of the California program.

Vince Alberta, Water Authority spokesman, said the point is that the Southern Nevada program is the first of its kind. The programs are different, he said.

He cited information from the California program that said home builders and developers can receive an incentive of $2,500 per home for including water conservation measures.

In Southern Nevada, home builders pay the Water Authority for the right to use the Water Smart brand, which tells buyers that they can ultimately save money on their water bills, Alberta said.

"Both water agencies should be congratulated for working with the home builders, but the approaches are much different," he said. "The biggest difference is that in our program, the builders actually pay to participate in the program and pay to help educate the customers about the program."

Builders pay $2,000 annually plus $5 for every home that they put up in the previous year.

"It demonstrates that the builders in Southern Nevada are working with the community to find creative solutions to dealing with the drought," Alberta said.

"It's a completely different approach, although the goal is the same," he said.

While they disagree on whom came first, Alberta and Ortega agreed on one thing: both said the flap would not likely interfere with the agencies' working relationship. The two agencies have been in negotiations on how to cut allocations from the Colorado River, among other issues, for years.

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