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m yV fvi. OCT 17 W* Las Vegas Review-Journal - October 13* 19^9 *§aaa Fr< By A. E. Cahlon The honeymoon is about-over so far as Las Vegas water is concerned. It has lasted much longer than we had any right to expect', really We should be thankful for p a s t blessings, agree we have been most for­tunate, and face the future with toe understanding there’s a new ?deaL coming, brought about by the growth and progress for which we’ve all worked so hard. li Wei ? fe-#sj»« [enough water and there always twill—as though the subterranean From the beginning of the lo- lake could never be pumped dry, cal utility, company officials ^ a r d l e s s of the ratio of inflow hesitated about adopting such a if0 outflow. We ve now been told policy because of the possible ef- I*11 n? uncertam terms that this feet on the beautification and ’ca* t § ° ™ much longer-that landscaping of the. resid en tial™ 3 bad bes*; Pud our heads out districts. They felt if water were sand and take a good dispensed by toe gallon, false lo° ^ before find ourselves economy would cause many to without enough water to go cut down on use to toe point [around, where lawns would burn, trees F or some 44 years, residents of this city have enjoyed an al­most unlimited use of water at a rate of $2.00 or less per month, depending on the particular time of residence. That figure is un­heard of in most communities where even flat rates are con­siderably higher. . Any time we wanted to turn on toe tap, for whatever pur­pose, there was toe finest water in toe land, ready to gush forth in plentitude—well water, from a natural lake underlying the valley. Each summer, of late, has found evidences of shortage, until this year, many residents suffered for a lack of water and demanded assurance that there would be no recurrence in 1950. There was a showdown this [week at which the cards were laid face up on the table and examined by representatives of every, group concerned. And af­ter taking a" good look, every­body agreed from the evidence presented, that the underground supply is NOT sufficient to take care of any further growth—that we’ll be extremely lucky if it can be stretched to 'cover the would die, shrubbery dry up and wither. ; That has NOT been toe case in other desert communities in late years and probably wouldn’t be here. That, however, is just a bit beside toe point. The pipe­line and pumping project MUST be ouilt. It can be financed only through higher water rates. Either higher FLA T rates or by metering toe water so that the larger users pay in proportion to the galionage consumed. We may as well look THAT pro­spect in toe face too. Of course we could say: We don’t want any more growth here. Las Vegas is big enough right now. W e’ll restrict toe pop­ulation by refusing to allow any more homes or business houses to be built. No more building permits, because we haven’t toe water to serve anybody else. That would mean no more real estate transactions; no construc­tion jobs for Las Vegas’ second industry; no work for toe bunij ing trades except on remodel* ing' just freeze everything as it is, and call it a day. People owning land couldn’t sell it, of course. Values would toboggan, own .would stagnate. No fu- Water district directors, all substantial, conservative citizens are ready to undertake toe task of getting water in from toe lake. They haven’t been told toe bad news as far as cost is con­cerned, but they’ll know in a few weeks. They don’t know what they’ll have to pay for toe Las Vegas utility, but they’ll have that information soon. It isn’t going to be easy. No­body’s going to wave a magic wand and conjure a pipe-like and pumping unit into existence. The cost will probably be rather shocking, at first glance. And when we discover how it will be necessary to pay for toe pro­ject, we’ll have another shock. But remember this: there is NO alternative. Every user of water will have to contribute his share of that cost. He’s going to have to' for­get present rates which are practically nothing compared.to the service provided. And this brings us to toe crux of toe JH&gtarocnrUgers... paying -i i ^ ca ir-a cc e liiP lA T kaKl of a ’Tsifaation "or' decide'to pay for getting more water in. Every­body benefits by development so everybody should be willing to contribute to the cost. The only FAIR way, is proportionately. No reason why the little fellow who uses only a few thousand gallons a month should pay the same as toe big consumer who uses twenty or thirty thousand or more. And there's no reason why the cautious home-owner should pay for the water his careless neighbor wastes. The ultimate answer undoub­tedly Will be a minimum rate entitling the .homeowner to the galionage engineering study in­dicates is necessary for toe av­erage residential service,- both inside the house and keeping lawn and shrubbery green. That rate might well be comparable to toe present figure. Slightly higher, but pot enough to hurt anybody. Meter rates would start from there. This system has proven Quite satisfactory in Tucson where it was recently adopted, and Tuc­son is similarly situated to Las Vegas. The homeowner, who is a sensible w ater user, is never caught by the meter. Only toe large consumers and the wast­ers find their supply being measured. I B I speak as one who h a s op­posed metering water all these years. If there were1 any other answer, I ’d still be opposed. i H H H I ?MEj