[steveklein]

isn't there a pretty hefty tax on water in the las vegas valley? some of the highest prices in the nation no? and isn't there also some sort of fee you have to pay to be allowed to have grass in your yard (in addition to the extra money you will spend on water keeping it green?)

[d from birmingham]

This is why rainvessels and greywater recycling should be mandated into new building codes and if possible when renovating older buildings. It doesn't just make sense in a desert environment.

You can have rain barrels that look like part of the house or building complex. Said rain barrels can be used to capture water for use in flushing toilets, watering the landscape, and if a filtration system is put in potable water uses such as the shower and sinks. Toilet alone is 25% of the water bill. So using greywater from the sink or shower or rain water is a huge cost reducer each month.



That is from a company in Santa Fe. RainVessels | Insulated rainwater and grey water catchment and storage.

You can also put in a greywater system that uses water from your shower to flush your toilet. The water from the shower goes into a tank the size of a hot water heater that has also has a filtration system to remove some of the stuff from the shower water. Then the water goes into your toilet.

Both systems the toilets will still use water from the main if there is no water from the greywater storage or rain water storage.

The reason why lawns instead of native landscaping became the thing in Las Vegas and other areas was due to all the old people moving in who demanded a lawn instead of a desert looking area. Of course this made it hell for the people who had moved to the desert to escape the allergies caused by the lawn grass and flowers.

[d from birmingham]

Oh Nevada does have agriculture. They do plant crops there and have livestock. http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_...verview_NV.pdf

Close to 3000 farms as of 2011. Close to six million acres of farm land.

[NLVgal]

Originally Posted by steveklein

isn't there a pretty hefty tax on water in the las vegas valley? some of the highest prices in the nation no? and isn't there also some sort of fee you have to pay to be allowed to have grass in your yard (in addition to the extra money you will spend on water keeping it green?)

No. Water here is "cheaper" than most cities.
Where do people hear this ****?

[MediocreButArrogant]

Graywater systems are not allowed in Clark County. And I'm not sure how much sense rainwater capture makes sense in an area that receives around four inches of rain per year, and very few, if any homes have rain gutters.

40% of all water used in southern Nevada is already treated and recycled back into the Colorado River, for which we receive a credit (Nevada receives a "net allocation" of water from the Colorado River). The following study

http://www.snwa.com/assets/pdf/wq_lv...ling_study.pdf

recommends expanding the amount of recycled water (and continued reduction of uses where the water cannot be reused, such as irrigation), rather than have homeowners install graywater systems. Cynics might argue that SNWA doesn't want anyone stealing a piece of their pie.

[d from birmingham]

Originally Posted by MediocreButArrogant

Graywater systems are not allowed in Clark County. And I'm not sure how much sense rainwater capture makes sense in an area that receives around four inches of rain per year, and very few, if any homes have rain gutters.

40% of all water used in southern Nevada is already treated and recycled back into the Colorado River, for which we receive a credit (Nevada receives a "net allocation" of water from the Colorado River). The following study

http://www.snwa.com/assets/pdf/wq_lv...ling_study.pdf

recommends expanding the amount of recycled water (and continued reduction of uses where the water cannot be reused, such as irrigation), rather than have homeowners install graywater systems. Cynics might argue that SNWA doesn't want anyone stealing a piece of their pie.

According to this Welcome to WaterWise Web Site - Water Harvest
"A one-inch rain will collect 600 gallons from a 1,000 square foot roof, while 4,500 square foot lot will receive 2,800 gallons"

Says toilet is 8.2 gallons a day person. 2,800 gallons if they were captured is 341 days of flushing. Your saying rainwater collection doesn't make sense in a desert? When most ecologists state it makes perfect sense to capture the rainwater for use when it rains to use the rainwater for agriculture and to be used for flushing toilets. .

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by d from birmingham

According to this Welcome to WaterWise Web Site - Water Harvest
"A one-inch rain will collect 600 gallons from a 1,000 square foot roof, while 4,500 square foot lot will receive 2,800 gallons"

What part of "we don't have rain gutters here" did you not understand? Also, a good percentage of the rain in Las Vegas comes during monsoon season thunderstorms, which would quickly overwhelm the capacity of a rainwater capture system (thus the periodic flooding that damages and/or consumes homes), so only a small percentage would be captured. It's not like we get 1/4" at a time with plenty of time to dry out between storms.

A third grader could figure out that a box of water 1 foot by 1 foot by 1000 inches is about 80 cubic feet of water, times 7.62 gallons per cubic ft is slightly over 600 gallons, without having to resort to a source to do the math for them.

Last response to you until you have more of a clue about the local area conditions.

[d from birmingham]

And you can easily install means to capture the rainwater. Also rainwater cisterns can go up to 5000 or even 20,000 gallon systems. Las Vegas has rain 26-27 times a year. 4 inches of rain on those 26-27 days a year is more then enough to keep the 5000 gallon tank filled throughout the year also the system reduces flash flood damage to not only the house but the property around it.

Jensen Precast - Las Vegas - Sewer and Storm Drain - Rain Water Collection Systems

You can add pipes and gutters to a damn house with ease. That is why they were built. So rain if it does flash flood the rain is diverted away from the house. So if flash flooding during your supposed monsoon season is a problem then every house should have already had gutters on them.

On there are over a dozen listings for roofings companies in Las Vegas that put up rain gutters.

Also I have been to Vegas. Guess what every building I saw when I looked had rain gutters!. Every show showing homes in Las Vegas shows rain gutters on the homes!

[tijlover]

There's always been hope that desal plants in Southern CA/Baja will lessen the demand for CO river water but I'm skeptical of that happening, as it may only fuel more growth in Southern CA. There's also a desal plant planned for Huntington Beach/L.A. area.

The desal plant under construction, north of San Diego, will only supply 7% of San Diego's water needs, and the much bigger desal plant under construction in Tijuana/Rosarito is designed to also sell any excess water to San Diego, as well as usage there.

And with more water there, will there then be more housing built, resulting no gains for Las Vegas or AZ?

[NLVgal]

Originally Posted by d from birmingham

According to this Welcome to WaterWise Web Site - Water Harvest
"A one-inch rain will collect 600 gallons from a 1,000 square foot roof, while 4,500 square foot lot will receive 2,800 gallons"

Says toilet is 8.2 gallons a day person. 2,800 gallons if they were captured is 341 days of flushing. Your saying rainwater collection doesn't make sense in a desert? When most ecologists state it makes perfect sense to capture the rainwater for use when it rains to use the rainwater for agriculture and to be used for flushing toilets. .

You'd have to be in a rainstorm here to understand. Our yearly rainfall comes down in about sixty minutes, yearly. A rain-catcher would breed mosquitos and little else.