Limiting the size of new swimming pools in and around Las Vegas might save a drop in the proverbial bucket amid historic drought and climate change in the West.
Officials are taking the plunge anyway, capping the size of new swimming pools at single-family residential homes to about the size of a three-car garage.
Citing worries about dwindling drinking water allocations from the drying-up Lake Mead reservoir on the depleted Colorado River, officials in Clark County voted this week to limit the size of new swimming pools to 600 square feet (56 square meters) of surface area.
SCIENTISTS WARN OF ‘DANGER SEASON’ DUE TO SUMMER’S DROUGHT AND WILDFIRE RISK
“Having a pool in Las Vegas is like having a second car. It’s that common,” said Kevin Kraft, owner of a family custom pool design company that has been in business since 1942.
Clark County figures show there are about 200,000 residential swimming pools in the area of 2.4 million people. Another 1,300 are added annually.
“When you’re in the desert and it’s 100 degrees outside on a regular basis, it’s part of life to have a pool,” said Kraft, who derided the new regulations as more about “optics” than saving water.
MISSOURI GOVERNOR DECLARES DROUGHT ALERT IN SOUTHERN HALF OF STATE
But Clark County Commission Chairman Jim Gibson lamented before voting in favor of the cap Tuesday: “If the trends continue and the lake continues to decline, then this may be one of the least of the tough decisions that we’ll be making over the course of time.”
On Thursday, the Southern Nevada Water Authority voted unanimously to send the restriction to a vote by city councils in neighboring North Las Vegas and Henderson. Authority officials and an industry trade group, the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance, said they think the Las Vegas-area restriction is a first in the U.S.
The estimated 3,000 glimmering “commercial” pools familiar to the 40 million tourists who visit Las Vegas resort hotels, motels and water parks annually, or live in apartments, will not be affected by the limit.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The vote to limit home pool sizes is the latest step by the authority to promote robust water reuse and conservation. It already encourages the removal of front lawns, and in recent months expanded patrols to identify and fine violators of landscape watering restrictions.
A new Nevada law that takes effect in 2027 bans “non-functional” or ornamental greenery at office parks, in street medians and entrances to housing developments. It excludes single-family homes, parks and golf courses.
