Friday, January 04, 2008

Water use report about Las Vegas

In December's Economic Development Journal of Mohave County there was a bit of information about a water study that was recently done in the Las Vegas Nevada area.

Here is the link to the sixty page report.

I've been reading the report for the last few days because there is quite a bit of information about conservation efforts. Now Las Vegas gets most of it's water from Lake Mead (Colorado River) whereas Kingman gets its supply from beneath the ground we walk on. Obviously there are different aspects to consider between the two ways water is supplied to the different population bases.

The detailed report also included some recommendations to help preserve precious water resources for the Las Vegas market that is expected to continue to grow for many years into the future (kinda like Kingman). I think some of the recommendations should be considered by the people of this community and perhaps the new leaders of the city will be asked to actually do something about the future of water resources right here.

The report revealed that Las Vegas had done some good things in getting outdoor water use on the radar, but little was done about indoor water savings. Some of the recommendations for improving efficiency of indoor water use included:

Implement a set of indoor water-efficiency programs that target older homes and high volume users; to include rebates and audits of such users; retrofit efforts; education programs; and more.

Expand efforts to develop a tiered block rate structure that incorporates low fixed costs, low rates for water sufficient to meet basic indoor needs, and a sharply increasing rate for higher-volume outdoor uses.

Adopt ordinances that target indoor water use, such as retrofit-on-resale ordinances.


Now please don't misunderstand... I'm not saying that I would implement any or all of these recommendations based on this one report... but I do think we all need to have a conversation about conservation to determine what we are all willing to do about the perceived problem about our water resources. These items probably make for a decent 'ice breaker' to get that conversation going.

The report also made some recommendations about new developments to consider as the Las Vegas area continues to grow while facing a strain on water resources. I do believe that it is a must that we ensure that new developments in Kingman are highly water efficient.

Develop more aggressive ordinances to further limit turf area in new developments.

Provide better financial incentives to builders and developers who install water-efficient landscapes and devices that exceed current indoor water efficiency standards.


Obviously a public campaign would have to be formed to deliver educational programs to the community on ways to save water.

Create a culture of conservation by developing a consistent message about the importance of indoor and outdoor conservation.

Offer public awards for innovative conservation programs.


Again... all of these are ideas and recommendations pulled from a study done for the Las Vegas area, but I can see our own community perhaps adopting some of these as we move forward.

The report has all kinds of nice pie charts and other useful information that is useful. One chart compares the use of water as per the population with an estimate for growth through the year 2035. It looks like Las Vegas will grow its population by 75% by 2035 and its water use will increase by nearly 60%. The good news from the report seems to indicate that Las Vegas would be able to provide water for the growth if water conservation efforts are successful... and I think that correlates to our local situation in a similar manner.

The last bit I'll share from the report is on the data about end use of indoor water that was done in 2000 in the Las Vegas Valley. I was surprised by the findings. I did not realize that water usage from toilets is the number one use of water in a household (26%). I thought it would be showers and baths, it just seemed logical to me. Actually, showers and baths was found to be 4th on the list for average use (which really surprised me). After toilets clothes washing machines use 20%, most egregious in my opinion was that leaks in the house came in 3rd at 18% of water use.

Well at this point most of us are aware of low flow toilets and high efficiency washing machines and the benefits. There must be newer technology in household products that reduce the apparent leaking problem (I don't know if the report points to such things as leaky faucets for the leak or if it is something harder to detect, say leaking from water pipes somewhere in the plumbing behind the walls).

After leaks, shower and bath accounted for 17% of usage, faucets accounted for 14%, other domestic uses came in at 10%, and dishwashers was last on the home use list at 7%.

None of this talk of conservation is new... heck back in grade school I remember my 4th grade class had to do some kind of report on water conservation. I think what is new though, is now that water resources have become politicized in this part of the country... what are we actually willing to do about it??

Our small community might actually grow at a faster rate than our neighbors 100 miles north and we don't have the luxury of looking at a body of water (Lake Mead) to get a clear understanding just how much it appears that water is being used up. Our water is underground and reports of how much there actually is down there varies immensely. So as a community, what are we going to do?? When are we going to do it??

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