Water Smarts Podcast

The permanent aridification of the Colorado River—the source of 90 percent of Southern Nevada’s water supply—means much less water will flow into Lake Mead in the future. The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) recently updated its Water Resource Plan to address aridification and other major impacts to the Las Vegas Valley water supply.   We talk with Zane Marshall , SNWA Director of Water Reso...

Shortage conditions on the Colorado River have reduced Southern Nevada’s water supply by about 7 billion gallons. While homeowners have worked hard to conserve water and remove water-thirsty grass, the business community is lagging behind in this effort. We talk with JC Davis , Enterprise Conservation Manager for the Southern Nevada Water Authority , about a new law requiring businesses, HOAs and...

Southern Nevada’s water system operates 24 hours a day, every day treating and delivering water that is pumped through nearly 4,000 feet of elevation changes in order to serve more than 2 million people in the Las Vegas Valley. The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) pulls water from deep below Lake Mead, treats it, and pumps it to the member agencies, which then deliver it to homes and busines...

Southern Nevada recycles 100% of the water it uses indoors—extending our limited water supply. For every gallon treated and returned to Lake Mead, we can pull another gallon out of the lake. Kim Adler , Assistant Manager at the Clark County Water Reclamation District, talks about how the “unseen utility” plays a high-profile role in treating and reusing Colorado River water in the valley and provi...

Las Vegas is the fastest warming city in the United States and as temperatures rise, the city’s urban forest of plants and trees will need to weather hotter, drier conditions. Doug Bennett , Conservation Manager for the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), discusses how we can protect our tree canopy and plan for tree succession to help protect the valley’s urban forest, which is essential to h...

Clark County is developing its first sustainability and climate action plan. The All-In Clark County plan focuses on enhancing quality of life, protecting our natural resources and diversifying our economy. Las Vegas is the fastest warming city in the nation, and the impacts of climate change are threatening our water and energy resources and creating other challenges for Southern Nevada. Marci He...

Located an hour north of Las Vegas, the Warm Springs Natural Area (WSNA) is an oasis in the Mojave Desert that has provided shelter to people and wildlife for centuries. The site has more than two dozen springs that feed into the Muddy River, which flows into Lake Mead. The WSNA is home to 28 endangered, threatened and sensitive species, including the Moapa dace which are found nowhere else in the...

Replacing old, splotchy grass at mature properties can provide a facelift and improve customers’ first impression of a business, according to Katherine Harper , a property manager for Gatski Commercial Real Estate. Harper talks about how grass wastes water and money in addition to making a property look old and tired. She has helped several of her clients refresh their properties by upgrading thei...

Climate change-fueled drought conditions have led the federal government to issue a water shortage declaration on the Colorado River, a move that will reduce the amount of water Southern Nevada will be allowed to withdraw from Lake Mead beginning in January 2022. Combined with existing water reductions outlined in the Drought Contingency Plan, the declared shortage will cut Southern Nevada’s annua...

The City of Las Vegas is world renowned as the Entertainment Capital of the World, but did you know it also is leading the way in creating a sustainable future through its Master Plan 2050? Las Vegas planning expert Marco Velotta joins hosts Bronson Mack and Crystal Zuelke to talk about how Las Vegas is addressing water, energy and climate change issues and ensuring that the city continues to thri...

The Nevada Governor recently signed into law Assembly Bill 356 (AB356), which prohibits the use of Colorado River water to irrigate decorative, useless grass in streetscapes, medians, parking lots and other areas where it is used for nonrecreational purposes by the end of 2026. The law helps the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) advance its conservation goals by essentially requiring this gra...

WaterStart serves as an innovation hub that brings water utilities and innovators together to test new technologies. From measuring arsenic in groundwater in real-time to finding leaks in the Las Vegas Valley Water District’s 6,500 miles of buried pipes, WaterStart innovators are helping the water industry use technology to solve the nagging challenges that keep utility staff up at night. SNWA Dep...

Currently, 40 percent of the Las Vegas Valley gets its water through the South Valley Lateral (SVL) transmission system. While the rest of Southern Nevada’s water transmission laterals have redundant facilities to ensure water delivery in the event of an emergency, the SVL is a single-feed system. In 2017, a leak in the pipeline required the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) to coordinate maj...

Show Summary: There are more than 5,000 acres of useless grass in Southern Nevada that only gets used when someone runs a lawn mower over it. And while residential property owners have stepped up and removed grass from their yards through the Water Smarts Landscapes rebate, the majority of remaining non-functional turf is on commercial and HOA properties, medians, and streetscapes. Patrick Watson...

Conservation is one of the most important actions Southern Nevadans can take to protect our limited water supply – particularly as we continue to weather a severe drought in the Colorado River basin. Toby Bickmore , Conservation Programs Administrator with the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), shares watering tips and how to get cash incentives for saving water in the Las Vegas Valley.    Re...

Every time Southern Nevadans flush the toilet, they’re helping scientists at the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWSA) and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas study the prevalence of COVID-19 in the community. SNWA researchers Dan Gerrity and Katerina Papp talk about how they ensure the coronavirus is not in our drinking water supply, and how they can track a pandemic using raw sewage samples an...

Protecting Southern Nevada’s water resources by preventing and stopping water waste is all in a day’s work for Summer Ortiz and Perry Kaye from the Las Vegas Valley Water District’s water waste team. Summer and Perry share tips on how to prevent water waste, and how to help stop it around your neighborhood on this episode of the Water Smarts podcast .   You can help protect our limited water suppl...

Show Summary: Where do Las Vegas casinos go after they’re imploded? Several of them have found a second life as material for erosion-control structures that help shore up the banks of the Las Vegas Wash, a 12-mile natural channel that plays an important role in Southern Nevada’s watershed. The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) and the Las Vegas Wash Coordination Committee have worked for two...

 As Lake Mead water levels dropped due to drought, the two major water intakes pulling water from the lake for Southern Nevada were getting perilously close to the surface. Doa Ross , the deputy general manager of engineering for the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), joins the Water Smarts podcast to talk about how SNWA engineered a solution and constructed a new intake deep below the lake’s...

Southern Nevada has cut its water use by billions of gallons every year through one of the most successful water conservation programs in the world. Doug Bennett , conservation manager for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, talks with the Water Smarts podcast about the community’s actions and the effort still needed to protect the Las Vegas Valley’s precious water resources. Doug shares why ever...

The director or water treatment and quality for the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) joins the Water Smart podcast to discuss treatment processes that protect our tap water supply. Greg Kodweis explains how ozonation kills viruses like COVID-19; why our tap water tastes like it does; why tap water is better than bottled water; and how SNWA invests in world-class research to advance water tre...

Las Vegas went 240 consecutive days without rain in 2020, and even for a renowned desert city that relies on the drought-stricken Colorado River, that’s quite a dry spell. Colby Pellegrino , deputy general manager of resources for the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), joins the Water Smarts podcast to discuss how Southern Nevada is weathering the 20-year drought on the Colorado River, which...