Inspectors have hard time finding Henderson water use violators
The word appears to be getting out about rules for outdoor irrigation, at least in Henderson.
Water waste investigators from three jurisdictions checked various areas of the community Sunday in search of water irrigation violations — and found only a handful.
No watering is allowed on Sundays across the Las Vegas Valley.
“There wasn’t a ton to see, which means the message is getting out and that’s good,” said Corey Enus, a public information coordinator for the Las Vegas Valley Water District.
Investigators from North Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Valley Water District joined Henderson staffers in Sunday’s effort. They inspected areas of the community that have more grass or a track record of previous violations.
LVVWD investigator Cameron Donnarumma reported he found four violations, including one in which a resident was draining a swimming pool into a street and another location where water was running in a gutter from illegal Sunday irrigation.
Pool water should be drained into any sewer port near the resident’s house, Enus said.
“That way it can make its way back into the sanitary sewer and back into Lake Mead,” Enus said.
Patrols 24/7
The combined effort will be carried out this summer in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, but the LVVWD has its roughly dozen water waste investigators and conducts patrols 24/7 every day of the year, Enus said.
“We can’t see everything as it is happening, so we rely on the community,” Enus said, noting that people who see any water waste can call 702-758-SAVE or even better, download and use the LVVWD app to immediately report water waste.
The app can be used to take a picture of the waste and then sent to the district via the app.
“The picture will sync to the location address and water meter number and we can come out and investigate,” Enus said.
In Las Vegas, investigators will check the possible water waste and also look at the last 18 months to see if there was a previous violation at the address. If it’s not a first-time violation, a fine may be assessed, Enus said.
“Our first goal is to be communicative (with the resident) to let them know exactly what the problem is and how they can fix it,” he said. “And we’ll come back another time to see if it is still occurring.”
Enus explained that often a resident may not know a water waste violation is occurring, especially because automatic irrigation systems may not be operating properly or parts may be broken, or the timer may be set for too long of a period, allowing excess water to run off a property.
“Any water that runs off the property is lost and we don’t get to reuse,” Enus said.
Lake Mead down 6 feet in a month
Lake Mead was at a depth of 1,045.74 feet (above sea level) at of 1 p.m. Sunday, a drop of more than 6 feet in the past month and 44 feet lower than June 12, 2020.
“The declining lake is first and center in this (water waste enforcement effort),” Juliana Castiblanco, a senior utilities business analyst for Henderson, said in advance of Sunday’s unprecedented effort. “There is a sense of urgency now more than ever.”
Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com or 702-863-4285. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas on Twitter.
