More needs to be done to convince water consumers that Southern Nevada is in a drought and that they need to conserve, members of the Drought Citizens Advisory Committee said Monday.
Water officials, through measures such as higher monthly bills and more incentives to convert lawns to desert landscaping, are trying to get residents to reduce water use by roughly 10 percent.
But residents may need some hard numbers about the extent of the drought, committee member Jeff van Ee said. He suggested Monday that water suppliers could help consumers track their progress in conserving water with a monthly report in their bills.
"They need to know fairly early the progress in conservation, knowing where we are on a path that increasingly looks like a drought emergency," van Ee said.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority created the 26-member committee in March, responding to a drought that has shrunk the water volume in Lake Mead, the source of 85 percent of Las Vegas drinking water, by 40 percent. The drought has led to restrictions on water use being considered and passed by governments throughout the Las Vegas Valley.
Most new rules focus on restrictions on outdoor use and have already generated some controversy, especially over limits on golf course watering.
But local and federal officials fear the drought could get worse, endangering the flow of drinking water from the lake to the Las Vegas Valley and elsewhere. The committee is charged with recommending further restrictions on water use that could include rationing.
"We want everyone to feel the drought," Ken Albright, resource director for the water authority, said of the list of possible future restrictions, from lawn watering to car washing.
But some on the committee wondered if their work was making a difference.
Member Brent Hardy said that the proposals are not clear.
"How will the 22 people on my little street know when to change when we flip the switch and we're in a drought emergency?" Hardy asked.
Member John Hiatt said the message about the severity of the drought was not reaching ordinary people.
"The object is to save water," Hiatt said, calling the proposed water restrictions vague.
"Basically it all comes down to how much water a guy is going to use," he said.
Hiatt said the drought plan lacked penalties.
"The public is asking when are you going to stop issuing building permits so there will be less dust, less traffic, less of all the things they don't like?" he said.
The city of Henderson is planning to introduce a four-tier rate system that could be in place by September, showing up in October's water bills, Kurt Segler, utilities director for Henderson, said. The city instituted a three-tier rate system in January.
The Henderson City Council will introduce the proposed rate changes tonight, Segler said and should adopt them by July 15.
A typical Henderson family using an average 18,000 gallons of water a month would see their bills increase from $32.29 to either $37.69 or $37.21 under two different scenarios, Segler said. The city council will decide which one to adopt.
The higher rates could reduce water use up to 18 percent, he said. The water authority set a goal in the 1990s to reduce water use valleywide by 25 percent by 2010 to meet necessary conservation goals. So far local residents have cut back 16 percent.
Not everyone on the committee agreed with water cuts.
Golf course managers fear they might have to close their greens, not from lack of water but from high water prices.
Southern Nevada golf greens use roughly 30,000 acre feet of the 300,000 allocation from the Colorado River, said Bill Fielder, representing the Southern Nevada Golf Course Superintendents Association.
Albright noted that the golf courses are taking about 10 percent of the total water available to 1.6 million residents and visitors to Las Vegas.
With proposed rate hikes, a golf course could owe up to $90,000 a month for water, Fielder said.
Golf is a $1 billion industry in the valley, said Garry Goett, another committee member. He urged the advisory committee to wait for Billy Walters, owner of Stallion Mountain Country Club, Desert Pines Golf Club, Royal Links Golf Club and Bali Hai Golf Club, who is spearheading an effort to bring in consultant Chuck Dixon of Kansas City, Mo., to come up with a compromise.
Albright said that the water authority has not heard from Walters or the consultant in two weeks.
Walters was out of the country and could not be reached for comment.
The water authority also pays courses up to $300,000 to remove enough turf to save water, spokesman Vince Alberta said.
"I just don't believe golf is the linchpin to this whole plan," Goett said.
The committee is expected to discuss golf course water use, water-based dust control and covers to keep water in swimming pools from evaporating at its next meeting in two weeks.
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