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IInvestigator Perry Kaye blocked the brakes on his government vehicle to investigate the violation. “Uh oh, that doesn’t look too good. Let’s take a look, ”he said as he got out of the car to deal with what has become one of the most existential violations in drought-stricken Las Vegas – a faulty sprinkler.
Kaye is one of nearly 50 water waste investigators deployed by the local water authority to crack down on even the smallest misuse of a dangerously rare liquid in the western United States, dried up by two decades of drought. The situation in Las Vegas, which saw a record 240 consecutive days without rain last year, is increasingly serious.
Lake Mead, the vast reservoir that supplies Las Vegas with 90% of its water, has now fallen to an all-time low, which means Nevada will face its very first mandatory reduction in its water supply next year. This impending reduction places restrictions on the city that has managed to thrive as a showy oasis in the Mojave Desert.
“The lake is not filling any more right now, so we have to save every drop,” said Kaye, an energetic former US Air Force serviceman who wears a high-visibility vest and wields a badge while he makes his rounds in search of offenders. He starts his shift at 4 a.m. “A lot of people think that because we are government employees, we are not there at the time, but we are out there 24/7, every day of the year.” , did he declare.
Kaye regularly issues fines – they start at $ 80, then double for each additional violation – for the kind of rule violation he’s spotted in Summerlin, a wealthy Las Vegas enclave where landscapers tend to well-maintained grounds. in the rising heat. Water sprayed on lawns and plants is not allowed to drain off the property, but that day, a damaged sprinkler had caused a cascade of water in the gutter, where the precious resource was lost.
“Look, we have a little creek or creek here,” Kaye said, as he used his phone to film the water meandering down the road. “If everyone did this, a lot of water would be wasted. “
It’s so hot in Vegas – the temperature on that July day will exceed 40 ° C (104 ° F) – that the stray water will evaporate in five minutes. Kaye planted a yellow flag next to the leak as a warning to owners, but a few taps to the computer mounted in his cruiser shows that this property has a previous warning, so an $ 80 fine will be en route.
However, there is a growing realization that such rules – no watering between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., not at all on Sundays – will not be enough as Nevada is grappling with a drought that has worsened dangerously in 2021. In June, the state passed a law to tear up “non-functional” public turf in Las Vegas, such as grass planted along roadsides or on roundabouts, over the next five years to save approximately 10% of the city’s water consumption.
“It’s just a waste – the only person stepping on it is the person cutting it,” Kaye said, pointing to a grass median nearby. “Some people just want to recreate their house, where they grew up with grass.” The new law, along with a financial incentive given to homeowners to replace thirsty grass with more resilient desert plants and rocks, is a recognition that climate change will not easily allow the imposition of a green oasis. on an arid desert basin.
A city that contains a huge replica of the Eiffel Tower, sprawling golf courses, and a mock Venetian canals with gondolas can never be seen as fitting in with its surroundings. But Las Vegas, called “The Meadows” in Spanish because of its natural springs which dried up in the 1960s, is at least aware of its location in such a barren place that only a few small bushes of creosote and tumbleweed can survive. here naturally.
“We live in the desert. We are the driest city in the United States, in the driest state in the United States, ”said Colby Pellegrino, deputy director of resources for the Southern Nevada Water Authority. “We have to act like this.”
Pellegrino said the recent escalation of the drought has been “very frightening” for some Vegas residents, although she insists the water authority has predicted this time. Lake Mead’s level fell below 1,075 feet in June, barely a third full, triggering what will be the first-ever reduction in a seven-state agreement to share Colorado River water. , which is operated by the Hoover Dam to create the reservoir.
Different states receive different water allocations and Nevada falls victim to its depopulated history, getting only 300,000 acre-feet of water per year (by comparison, California gets 4.4 million acre-feet) in under an agreement made before the Hoover Dam was completed in the 1930s. “The joke is the Nevada rep was drunk,” said Pellegrino, born in 1983, when the state’s population was just 900,000. It now measures more than 3 m and welcomes tens of millions of tourists a year.
This small water allowance will drop by 21,000 acre-feet with the new cuts, although Nevada has made impressive progress in staying below its low cap, reducing its water use despite doubling its population since. early 2000s. Pellegrino believes that additional savings can be made and careful consideration is being put into the water used in the ubiquitous cooling systems of Vegas casinos.
But the impact of global warming on the snowpack and rivers of the west is relentless, and the city’s water savings will go no further. “Vegas has done great things like pulling the grass out, but we’ve lost 20% of the Colorado River’s flow since 2000 and another 10% loss by 2050 is very possible,” said Brad Udall, specialist. water and climate. at Colorado State University whose research has focused on the stresses the river faces.
“I’m afraid it could be even more than that, and it should scare everyone.”
Back in Summerlin, Perry Kaye is also relentless. A house across from the first offender has broken sprinklers that squirt water into puddles on the grass and the road. Kaye knocks on the decorated door to inform the owner, but no one is inside.
“These sprinklers didn’t pop up properly, they’re oozing all over the place,” Kaye muttered. He has been monitoring wastewater for 16 years, imposing countless fines during that time. “I had hoped I would have gotten rid of a job now. But it looks like I’ll retire first.
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