Letter: Water plan must include controlling growth

Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007 | 1:18 a.m.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority has done good work administrating the water resources of Las Vegas. The Water Authority has been innovative with its conservation initiatives.

Gayle White's article, "Looks deceive: We're saving water," which appeared in the Las Vegas Sun on Wednesday, quoted Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy as saying, "Controlling growth is not an option" in the Water Authority's effort to assure water availability.

Controlling growth in Las Vegas needs to be considered a tool we should be using. To say otherwise seems to indicate we really won't use every means available to maintain livability in our city.

We do not need to "build a wall" around Las Vegas so no one else can get in. However, it is necessary to think about and plan how we grow, with water availability the determining factor. To do otherwise is rolling the dice on the future snowpack feeding all elements of the lower Colorado River Basin.

Growth decisions are made by our growth-oriented politicians and not by the Southern Nevada Water Authority; the Water Authority is playing the hand it has been dealt. Unfortunately, controlled-growth advocates have little say in the water conservation debate.

We are all citizens of Nevada, as well as of Las Vegas, and a plan to pump excess water from under fellow Nevadans, while an important part of a comprehensive plan, should not be the only action our leaders consider.

Nevada is our home, not just an economy.

Samuel Shaw, Henderson