[oeccscclhjhn]

Winter watering restrictions start today, November 1, 2016.

[fluffythewondercat]

Are you allowed to use gray water on landscaping?

[MediocreButArrogant]

If you have a smart irrigation controller, you can program it to automatically switch schedules (and skip irrigation if a selected weather station near you has detected rain, or rain is predicted in the next 24 hours, etc.).

I paid $150 for an 8-station Rachio on Amazon (a special where you got a $50 gift card back), and then SNWA gave me $75 back, so I ended up only paying $75 for it.

[LVAllen]

Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat

Are you allowed to use gray water on landscaping?

You can water with a hose anytime, so I don't see any reason why you couldn't use gray water. That said, Southern Nevada Water Authority has long opposed gray water use in the valley because it takes the water out of the use cycle. Our water goes into the house, down the sewer, treated and cleaned, sent to Lake Mead, pumped back out again, sanitized, and pumped back into houses. That allows us to use our Lake Mead allotment many, many times over.

Also, you'll need to transport the gray water yourself. Piping waste water anywhere but the sewer or a septic tank violates the building code.

[yellowsnow]

Thanks for the reminder!

[fluffythewondercat]

Originally Posted by LVAllen

You can water with a hose anytime, so I don't see any reason why you couldn't use gray water. That said, Southern Nevada Water Authority has long opposed gray water use in the valley because it takes the water out of the use cycle.

That's interesting. Do you not have aquifers? Honest question, I'm not that familiar with the desert.

Our water goes into the house, down the sewer, treated and cleaned, sent to Lake Mead, pumped back out again, sanitized, and pumped back into houses. That allows us to use our Lake Mead allotment many, many times over.

Also, you'll need to transport the gray water yourself. Piping waste water anywhere but the sewer or a septic tank violates the building code.

During our recent drought, some neighbors were catching gray water from the washer into a barrel on wheels, then tossing it onto their lawn.

[LVAllen]

Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat

That's interesting. Do you not have aquifers? Honest question, I'm not that familiar with the desert.

Yes, we have aquifers. I think the last estimate was that the annual draw on the aquifers was in the neighborhood of 10% of the total usage. The Southern Nevada Water Authority has used some of the allotment from the Colorado to recharge the aquifer to the tune of around 320,000 acre-feet. Our primary source of water still comes from the Colorado. Nevada is allotted 300,000 acre-feet from the river a year, but Nevada also gets credits for water that we send back to the river. So we use it, and re-use it, and re-use it. Our net usage is around 225,000 acre-feet/year.

[robr2]

What is the reason for water restrictions in the winter. Here in New England, it's the opposite - water restrictions in the summer and none in the winter which of course doesn't have a need for outdoor watering.