CARSON CITY, Nevada (AP) — Nevada legislators have made a notable move to allow the Water Authority, which controls Las Vegas’ Colorado River supply, to limit the use of single-family homes in the desert city and surrounding counties. We are considering changes.
This could be the next step in a decades-long effort to ensure enough water in one of the driest metropolitan areas in the United States. Las Vegas has already banned ornamental lawns, new pools have size restrictions, and water used in homes is recycled.
While some agencies in the western United States are tying increased water use to increased costs, the state of Nevada has authorized the water agency (Nevada Southern Water Authority) may be the first municipality to give. Above average use. Spokesman Bronson Mack said it primarily targets the top 10% of water users who use 40% of his water in the residential sector.
“This is a worst-case scenario plan,” said the bill’s sponsor, Democratic Rep. Howard Watts of Las Vegas, of the housing restrictions. Drinking water is a basic health and safety need.”
It’s one of the most important bills to enter Congress this year in Nevada, one of seven states dependent on the Colorado River. Intensifying drought, climate change and demand have caused the major Colorado River reservoir, which depends on snowmelt, to sink to record low levels.
Lawmakers heard testimony on the bill Monday night, which includes turning many homes with non-recyclable septic tanks for wastewater into the county’s recyclable sewage system in the coming decades. We will also establish a program that pays at least 50% of the transition as we aim to secure more state and federal funding to support the transition.
During the two-hour hearing, water officials stressed that residential caps would not be used immediately, but only if the situation worsened. The cap is about 160,000 gallons per year, about 20% of the agency’s customers use, and the average single-family home uses nearly 130,000 gallons per year, according to the agency.
Authorities have yet to decide how to implement or enforce the proposed restrictions, Mack said.
Residential use restrictions received broad support from water policy experts, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, and jurisdictions within the agency’s limits, but there was opposition from Southern Nevada residents who testified via video from Las Vegas. there was.
“() For single-family homes, the thing to consider is how many adults, family members, are there in this home?” said Sarah Patton of Las Vegas. “We raised the children who live with us now. It’s more water use.”
Las Vegas relies on the Colorado River for 90% of its water supply. Nevada has already lost about 8% of its supply due to forced logging as rivers dwindle further. The Southern Nevada Water Authority reuses most of the water it uses indoors and does not use all of its allotted water, so most residents are not feeling the effects.
Two years ago, the Nevada legislature banned ornamental lawns in office parks, street medians, and residential entrances. This was later adopted by other cities as well. Last summer, Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, limited the size of new pools in single-family homes to about the size of a three-car garage.
By the next legislative session in 2025, the drought situation could get even worse, before “we need to decide which uses to prioritize,” Watts said. But the long-term goal is for other Nevada states to become leaders in responsibly using the Colorado River’s dwindling supplies.
“This is a signal to all other sectors across the Colorado River Basin that we’re not going to wait for other sectors,” Watts told lawmakers of the potential single-family home cap. “We are taking the lead in working to reduce water consumption.”
A major objection to the bill was to convert homes with septic systems to sewage systems. This is a major change that will cause many homes to reroute their wastewater. Some Clark County residents were discouraged by the possibility of giving up on the septic system or worrying about the costs.
“This is too much of a burden for these targeted homeowners,” said Michele Tombari, who, like others, spoke fondly of her corrupt system and said she didn’t want to switch. “If you want to change something that has already been approved or paid for, you must pay 100% to change it.”
Snow in northern Nevada and parts of California is only a temporary relief from dry conditions. Several states in the Colorado River Basin are at a dead end on how to reduce their water use.
Colorado River water is primarily used for agriculture in other basin states such as Arizona, California, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado. Municipal water is a relatively small percentage of total usage.
As populations grow and climate change leaves future supplies uncertain, policymakers are paying close attention to all available options for managing water supplies.
Santa Fe, New Mexico uses a tiered cost structure with rates rising sharply during the summer months when residents reach 10,000 gallons.
Scottsdale, Arizona, recently told residents of communities outside the city limits that it could no longer provide water sources. Scottsdale argued that action was needed under the drought management plan to ensure adequate water for residents.
Sheri Trapp of the Arizona Water Users Association said elsewhere in Phoenix, the water department is not currently discussing limiting residential usage. But cities such as Phoenix, Glendale and Tempe have said they will reduce their overall usage.
_ AP writer Susan Montoya Bryan contributed a report from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Stern is a Corps member of the Associated Press/Reports for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. Follow him on Twitter: @gabestern326.
