Las Vegas Using 30%+ Less Water While Adding 500,000+ New Residents According to LasVegasRealEstate.org

Whether or not Las Vegas is running out of water has been a major debate topic throughout the last decade. The assumption that Lake Mead is slowly drying out has rapidly spread through the area of Southern Nevada in the last couple of years. However, even though there are several valid reasons behind this belief, there is also a strong list of facts that stands against it. In Las Vegas 99 % of the water used indoors at the casinos and hotels is captured, treated and reused and only the water used outdoors in lost. Even though the Las Vegas population increased by nearly 600,000 residents from 2002 to 2017, many conservation effort helped reduce the water consumption. The consumption per capita per day, dropped by 36% from 2002, which led to consuming 127 gallons per capita per day in 2018.

William Margita, a real estate agent with Urban Nest Realty, says “Las Vegas has no problem adding another 1 million residents and filling all the pools”. Margita has been a Realtor for over twenty plus years and is a nationwide industry leader specializing in homes for sale with pools in Hendrson NV and also the popular Lake Las Vegas community. He adds “The Phoenix valley in Arizona already has more than 3 million people, 1 million more than Las Vegas with less water resources and is doing fine.”. He points out that 80% of the water passing Las Vegas goes on to Arizona and California with Las Vegas only taking 20% for use. He also points out that like Phoenix, Las Vegas has a huge aquafer system that people do not see.

Mainly, the Las Vegas water supply comes from a combination of Lake Mead and Colorado River and ground water. The water flowing into Lake Mead is 97 % from Colorado River and 3% from Muddy and Virgin Rivers. Statistics show that, annually, 85% of the water used by Las Vegas residents comes from Lake Mead and the remaining 15% come from ground water. Water is definitely not a problem when speaking about Las Vegas. The Colorado river system, together with the giant Lake Mead and Lake Powell reservoirs are the major source that serve 40 million people and 6,300 sq miles farmland. The water is divided under international treaties and Arizona, California, Colorado and Nevada are just some of the places that rely on the river.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) is the organization whose main job is managing this precious resource. This agency plans present and future water needs of million pf people living and visiting the area. The Southern Nevada Water Authority says it has enough water to supply new homes and new businesses, making Las Vegas a very sustainable in the future. In order to help the community weather the drought, the SNWA has adopted mandatory conservation measures. Michael Cohen, an expert on the Colorado River basin said: “Vegas has done a pretty good job in the last ten-to-14 years now recognizing water is a scarce resource. They’ve done that despite incredible population growth”. Some of the conservation measures adopted included outdoor watering restrictions and landscape watering assignments, increase in water rates as well as water waste fees. Besides this, front-yard grass was banned, turf out back was limited to 50 %, and fountains and water features with a surface area of 25 square feet or less such as Summerlin homes for sale with pools are allowed. Those conservation measures, contributed to a significant increase to almost 2 million residents without a substantial increase in water consumption.

It is well known that for more than a half century, the Water District and customers have been looking for nation’s most reliable water delivery system. Southern Nevada’s water system has an efficiency world class rating. Las Vegas’s most valuable tool is the asset management program through which the city keeps a careful record of parts used in their water system. They keep record of how old it is, when it needs to be replaced and how frequently it will need maintenance. Knowing all of this, officials are able to do major replacements before major damage is caused.

By 2035, the UNLV Center for Business and Economic Research predicts that Clark County’s population will reach approximately 2.72 million and by 2050 it will reach nearly 2.83 million, and our reach will extend into Southern Utah (Washington County) and Northern Arizona (Mojave County) as these communities are folded into the larger our metropolitan statistical area (MSA), a term used by the U.S. Census to define regions that exchange a sufficient number of commuters for employment and economic purposes. In fact, according to U.S. Census data, the Las Vegas of today represents the projected national average for the racial and age mix of our nation’s population in 2060.

There is no doubt that the water situation in the west is under attention. However, Las Vegas resulted to be very proactive about this question. The major water supply in the Las Vegas area comes from Lake Mead and the Colorado river. While it is true that the city is completely dependable on these two water sources, they are far from drying out. For instance, 80% of the water flowing through the Colorado River reaches California and Arizona, two large areas in which this valuable resource is used for agriculture and fracking. This fact alone proves that there is indeed plenty of water available to cover the needs of a rapidly developing city such as Las Vegas. However, what added to the rumors of water shortage was the period of 2015 when the water levels of Lake Mead were significantly lowered. Using this opportunity to create an eye-catching story, popular media quickly began overemphasizing this topic. Having all the water consumption measures incorporated and taken into consideration, water and growth are going very well in Las Vegas.

About LasVegasRealEstate.org

LasVegasRealEstate.org is a top rated source for Las Vegas real estate news and market updates to include all MLS homes for sale in Las Vegas, NV and surrounding cities and communities to include Henderson, NV & Summerlin. William Margita of Simply Vegas is has over 20 years experience as an agent, speaker, writer and real estate coach. He can be reached for questions, concerns or bookings at 702-882-8240 https://www.lasvegasrealestate.org/