With the community facing strict limits on how much water we can draw from Lake Mead due to drought and climate change, the biggest sin in Sin City is letting water go to waste. And because the Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD) has addressed water waste through a series of ordinances, wasting water also is against the law. Here’s how you can identify and eliminate water waste at your home.
What is water waste?
Lawn sprinklers going full blast in the middle of a hot summer day and water rolling off a landscape and down the street are prime examples. So is watering outside of assigned seasonal watering days and violating time-of-day watering restrictions in the summer.
If we see water being wasted, what can we do?
The LVVWD and the cities of Henderson and North Las Vegas make it easy to report water waste with apps you can download to your mobile phone, tablet or other wireless device. You also can visit the Southern Nevada Water Authority website at snwa.com for a full list of ways to report water waste.
What happens if people keep wasting water?
Property owners who receive a warning from any of the water-waste investigators patrolling the community but do not fix the problem can face fines ranging up to $1,280 for repeated violations. Not only is wasting water against the law, it also can be expensive!
Yikes! So, how can we prevent water waste at home?
Inspect your irrigation system for leaks and make any repairs.
- Follow mandatory seasonal watering restrictions all year.
- Never water on Sunday.
- Water only before 11 am and after 7pm in the summer.
- Don’t allow water to flow off your property.
- Water grass for a recommended total of 12 minutes per watering day in three, four-minute cycles, each set an hour apart. That’s all it needs!
For more information on what you can do to reduce, report, and eliminate water waste in the community, visit lvvwd.com.
Members of the editorial and news staff of the Las Vegas Review-Journal were not involved in the creation of this content.