Water briefs for January 21, 2005

Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 | 9:51 a.m.

Water Smart homes to be labeled

The board of the Southern Nevada Water Authority approved, by a 6-0 vote, a proposal to begin labeling new homes that include significant water conservation measures as "Water Smart."

Water Smart homes could save more than a third of the typical 240,000 gallons used by older homes in a year, providing more capacity for continued growth. The water authority, the region's water wholesaler, worked for a year with the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association on the branding effort, which agency staffers called the first in the nation.

Builders would pay for inspections and a fee to participate in the program. The label could apply to individual homes, new residential subdivisions, or all the products from a builder, depending on the level of participation in the program.

Colorado snow helps water level

Drought conditions are easing throughout much of the West, a Southern Nevada Water Authority official told her board.

Kay Brothers, Water Authority deputy general manager, said the snow pack in the Rocky Mountains, which feeds the Colorado River and Lake Mead, was 144 percent of normal, and overall precipitation has been 129 percent of normal so far in this water year, which began in October.

The system has benefited from record snow and rain events throughout much of the West.

But the bad news from five bad years won't go away easily, she said. Lake Powell, the upstream reservoir feeding Lake Mead, is only 35 percent full, and Lake Mead itself only has 57 percent of its capacity.

Federal and local water officials have said it could take years for the river and lakes to come back to normal even with successive above-average precipitation events.