Water panelist calls for deep cuts in per-person use

Tuesday, June 28, 2005 | 9:55 a.m.

A prominent Las Vegas developer and member of a committee looking at the water future of Southern Nevada called Monday for deep cuts to the amount of the resource used per person over the next five years.

John Ritter, Focus Property Group chief executive, said Las Vegas should do more to eliminate the green lawns and water waste that he still sees in the urban area. The region is already under rules created in response to five years of drought that began in 1999 that, among other things, banned installation of new front lawns and prohibit irrigation that runs into the street.

Ritter said the problems remain.

"Who is going to take us seriously when we have water running down the roads?" he asked.

Other members of the Integrated Water Planning Advisory Committee, which the Southern Nevada Water Authority created last fall to recommend ways to develop new water resources for the growing population of the region, took the theme. Bryan Nix, a former Boulder City councilman, said local governments also need to do more to cut water use and abuse.

"I really think governments ought to be doing a whole lot more to set an example," Nix said.

More conservation through stiffer water use rules would likely spark protests from industry or residential users. The drought-inspired rules in place fueled opposition from golf course operators, business park developers and some residents, and some rules, such as a ban on car-washing at home, were reversed last year.

The water authority, which supplies the resource to the Las Vegas Valley Water District and local governments throughout the county, has reached the maximum of what it can take from Lake Mead, which now supplies 90 percent of the water used. The agency is looking at a variety of new sources, including surface water from the highly saline Virgin and Muddy rivers and groundwater from wells in Clark, Lincoln and White Pine counties.

The groundwater plans have sparked opposition, especially in White Pine County, among ranchers, farmers and environmentalists. Despite the opposition, groundwater is a huge part of the water authority's plans, and it has become a regular part of the discussions at the monthly advisory committee meetings.

The advisory committee has not made a final set of recommendations, but its draft recommendations include every step suggested by the water authority staff. In every scenario envisioned by the staff and advisory committee members, the only way to provide the water needed by 2035 would be large-scale develop of groundwater resources throughout the state, which could provide enough water for double the population.

The draft recommendations that the advisory committee tentatively approved Monday evening included 11 proposals, including an effort to negotiate for rights to take more water from the Colorado River through Lake Mead, the surface and groundwater plans, and the long-term investigation of Pacific Ocean desalination as a resource.

The last of the 11 proposals was a greater emphasis on conservation. Peggy Maze Johnson, executive director of Citizen Alert, a statewide progressive policy organization, said the water authority should to put conservation higher in the list of recommendations.

"It needs to be No. 1," she said.

Johnson said the water authority's goal of 255 gallons per person per day by 2010 could be whittled further. The level now is 272 gallons per person.