Water campaign a winner for region

Launce Rake, Las Vegas

Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012 | 2:01 a.m.

As a supporter of the “90 by 20” water conservation campaign, I was surprised to hear some suggest in a recent article that the goal may be “too much.” When it comes to water conservation, can we really have a goal that goes too far?

As this summer’s drought proves, we ought to be saving every drop we can.

We get more than 90 percent of our water from the Colorado River, and there’s more demand than supply.

The status quo is simply not sustainable. The good news is that we can use water in smarter, better ways.

Of course, Nevada cannot protect the river on its own. That is the genius of the 90 by 20 campaign.

It calls on all communities to reach a benchmark that will result in tremendous water savings.

It is a problem we can solve if we work together.

In Southern Nevada, we’ve cut our daily use by 50 gallons a person in the past 10 years, and I still see a lot of water waste and irrigated median strips.

And if we look to communities in the river basin, there are folks who can do even more to trim water waste and unnecessary use.

This is something we can do together, that helps everyone, that saves money and infrastructure costs, and makes sense for the environment. The 90 by 20 campaign is a winner.

The author is a board member of the Toiyabe Chapter of the Sierra Club and a board member of the Great Basin Water Network.