Groups say save water, don’t draw more

By Phoebe Sweet (contact)

Friday, Nov. 2, 2007 | 7:40 a.m.

The latest attempt to persuade the Southern Nevada Water Authority to abandon its multibillion-dollar plan to pump ground water from rural Nevada to Las Vegas came in a report released Thursday. Once again, water conservation by Las Vegans is being touted as a viable alternative.

Single-family homes could reduce water use both indoors and outdoors by 40 percent and hotels by 30 percent, according to "Hidden Oasis: Water Conservation and Efficiency in Las Vegas," the report from the Pacific Institute of Oakland, Calif., and the national Western Resource Advocates, both non profit environmental groups.

And the water savings can be achieved with technology available at hardware stores, the report says.

"The Western U.S. is water-scarce, and as populations grow and the economy grows, we worry that the demand for water will outstrip our supply," said Peter Gleick, a Pacific Institute co-founder. "There are just fewer and fewer places where we can find new water and, at the same time, there are a lot of places where it turns out we can use water more effectively at low cost."

But the Water Authority says not all of Las Vegas' water needs can be met through conservation .

"We appreciate the input from the Pacific Institute and recognize that conservation must continue to be a top priority for Southern Nevada's residents and businesses," Pat Mulroy, general manager of the authority, said in an e-mail response to the report. "However, conservation is not an adequate substitute for developing an independent and readily available water supply that will provide our community badly needed drought protection."

But environmentalists think Las Vegans need to put more effort into conservation than into development.

The groups applaud the Water Authority's water saving programs, but say Las Vegas is falling behind other arid cities in conservation . And implementing improvements, they add, would be less costly.

There has been a constant drum beat of criticism by environmental groups that insist pumping water from northeast Nevada, the most controversial of the authority's water development projects, will create a dust bowl effect in the Great Basin and devastate the rural, ranching way of life there.

Water Authority spokesman J.C. Davis said any ground water pumping would be done in an environmentally sensitive way and would have no adverse effect.

"The crisis in Atlanta clearly demonstrates the danger of relying exclusively upon a single water supply," Mulroy said. "Conservation alone cannot avert the need for a source of water independent of the drought-plagued Colorado River."

Among the conservation methods suggested are incentives for conservation and penalties for waste, targeting older homes and high-volume users for more efficient fixtures and appliances, and getting businesses to save.

Reducing indoor water use has the added benefit of reducing energy costs from pumping of water and treatment of wastewater.

"We know (Water Authority officials) have made some serious efforts at efficiency in the past. But they haven't come close to tapping the potential," Gleick said. "And with the growing debates about water throughout the country, we just can't ignore that potential any longer."