Climate change is causing severe droughts in many places, which will only get worse in the coming years. In addition to much of Europe, including the Czech Republic, this applies to the western United States. Las Vegas is at the forefront of the fight against drought, as others are also learning how to manage water. It is a city built in the desert, where water has always been scarce. But now the situation is rapidly deteriorating, so there is a taboo, for example, to cultivate meadows.
Las Vegas is at the forefront of the fight against drought, as others are also learning how to manage water. It is a city built in the desert, where water has always been scarce. But now the situation is rapidly deteriorating | Source: Profimedia
Las Vegas is the driest city in the driest US state, Bronson Mack of the Southern Nevada Water Authority told me. It has been like this here in the Mojave Desert forever, but now with the climate crisis and the Colorado River virtually disappearing year after year, the situation is much worse. And even for other cities downstream like Los Angeles or San Diego in California.
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Here in Las Vegas, as the water supply dwindles, the rules for its use are increasing. “First of all, people have to follow the restrictions on how to water during the seasons. Now we have summer – it should not be watered on Sundays, and during other days it is forbidden between eleven in the morning and seven in the evening, because this is the hottest time. On September 1, it will switch to autumn mode, where watering is allowed only three days a week, just like in spring. And only one day in winter. It turns out that only this simple measure can save a huge amount of water. “
The basis of everything is water recycling. Nearly 100 percent of the water used indoors in Las Vegas is returned to the local dam through a special system.
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But most of the water in Las Vegas is used for outdoor purposes. It’s also why golf courses have water use limits, why private pool size restrictions will apply from September, and why the city bans lawns.
“Grass was the dominant plant in single-family homes, especially until 2004. At that time, we banned the construction of new lawns, so new residential and commercial buildings no longer had them. At the same time, we introduced a support program for others, which we pay to those who They decided to replace their existing garden with plants that do not require water. Las Vegas has changed because of this, we no longer see carpets of grass from fence to fence. This is about the residents, they understand the situation we are in and have done a great job,” adds an employee in the Office of Water Management. .
lawn removal law
Unlike many malls or office buildings that still have lawns in their grounds. Bronson Mack calculates how much water costs in Las Vegas – the difference between an area with large grass or cacti in terms of water consumption.
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While keeping grass alive in the Mojave Desert requires spraying it with more than three thousand liters of water per square meter annually, for desert plants, it’s not even a quarter.
In the past 20 years, when the financial support program for the transition to more sustainable green spaces was in place, Las Vegas has lost 400,000 square meters of lawns. This has resulted in the saving of more than 40 billion liters of water and consequently its consumption has decreased despite the growing population.
But some companies still keep their promoters. “That’s why the state of Nevada recently passed a law ordering them to clear lawns by 2026. This grass makes up a tenth of our water use. That means it absorbs more water per year than the entire Las Vegas strip,” Bronson Mac reminds of the gambling city’s main park of all hotels and casinos. And the giant fountain.
