Las Vegas water czar not tapping into Brazilian water-saving idea

By Melissa Arseniuk

Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009 | 2:51 p.m.

Could more urinating in the shower help relieve Las Vegas’ looming water shortage?

While Southern Nevada Water Authority top boss Pat Mulroy has yet to endorse it herself, a Brazilian environmental group is advocating urinating in the shower as a method to save increasingly scarce H20.

The South American organization, SOS Mata Atlantica, says Brazilian households would save 1,157 gallons of water a year by simply by having one person pee in the shower instead of the toilet each day.

A playful television campaign was recently launched to encourage Brazilians to give a more golden shower a try.

"Pee in the shower! Save the Atlantic rainforest!" the animated ad, which is narrated in Portuguese, suggests.

While saving a few flushes here and there won’t likely save Lake Mead, it probably wouldn’t hurt. After all, if it works in Rio de Janeiro it might work at the Rio Hotel and Casino (and the rest of Southern Nevada) too.

Still, Mulroy isn’t so sure.

“I don’t know if we’re culturally ready for that,” she said.

“I’m not sure I’d be willing to put that ad on TV in Las Vegas,” Mulroy continued. “I’m not against it, I’m just not sure our tourists that come to Las Vegas would take to that kindly … if they turn on the television set and they see that’s what we’re urging. I’m not sure that it’s a great marketing tool for the city.”

“This gets really personal at some level,” she said. “I know I had a visceral reaction to it”

Though slightly stomach-turning, Mulroy said she appreciated the humor in the SOS Mata Atlantica appeal.

“I was laughing, going, ‘You mean, I wasted my time teaching my son not to do that during the first five, six years of his life?’” she recalled. “It was quite something.”

“It is definitely a radical approach. Definitely a radical approach,” she concluded.

Still, Mulroy was concerned about mid-shower urination sanitation, or lack thereof.

“A toilet bowl is solid porcelain; there is no grout in that,” she observed. “Most showers are tiled with grout … so I don’t know if the grout would absorb it.”

“Somebody’s got to clean that shower,” she added, “And you always wonder, how much is left?”

When it comes to saving water, Mulroy said there are other, less stomach-churning options for conserving water.

If she had her way, people would use showers equipped with water-conserving shower heads for showering, and keep the peeing to toilets with water-saving capabilities.

“We’re pretty health-conscious in this country and pretty cleanliness-oriented,” she said. “I’d rather have the dual-flush toilets.”

Melissa Arseniuk writes about Las Vegas entertainment and celebrity events. She can be reached at 702-948-7823 or by e-mail at melissa.arseniuk@lasvegassun.com.