Henderson looks to increase water conservation

By Jeremy Twitchell

Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008 | midnight

Henderson is putting together a staff to focus on the city’s water conservation efforts.

The City Council on Tuesday approved three new positions for the effort. A conservation analyst and two conservation awareness assistants will be part of a team of about 10 employees that the Utility Services Department has assembled to direct and promote conservation efforts, Utility Services spokeswoman Kathleen Richards said.

The new group will provide a rededicated approach to those efforts, which now are performed by the general staff in addition to their regular duties, she said.

Richards said the new staff is not a direct response to recommendations from the citizen’s advisory committee on water conservation that reported its findings in August. The city began planning for the positions early this year, she said.

However, the team will work on the committee’s recommendations, she said.

The committee, which included developers, residents and business representatives, suggested the city improve its public outreach efforts on water conservation, particularly to residents. Other suggestions including making the current temporary drought regulations permanent, increasing penalties for water waste, stepping up enforcement and increasing the water rate for the city’s highest users.

Committee member Lee Farris of The Landwell Co. said he was pleased to see the city moving quickly to improve its conservation efforts.

“I think that, as a committee member, when you put in your time to make those recommendations, it’s gratifying to see the city follow through,” he said.

Farris said the committee found the city had already begun the process but needed to step up its efforts.

“The consensus seemed to be that (the city) had kind of picked all the low-hanging fruit and had to now get into the more difficult issues,” he said. “To really get to citizens and encourage them to reduce their water use, particularly outdoors, it’s going to take a tremendous amount of outreach.”

Richards said she expects the city will hire the new conservation analyst in November and the group will begin its work in earnest then.

Jeremy Twitchell can be reached at 990-8928 or jeremy.twitchell@hbcpub.com.