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L a s V e g a s ,N e v a d a REVIEW - JOURNAL S e p te m b e r 1 3 , 1 9 4 8 Per Capita Use of Water High During Hot Season With summer almost -gone and Las Vegas once more due to re­vert to ordinary water usage, it has been disclosed by A1 Folger, manager of the- Las Vegas Land and Water company, that through the warm months city consumers used 15,000,000 gallons ofwwater daily, for a per capita usage of approximately 700 gallons for every man, woman and child in town each 24 hours. Although it is impossible to estimate accurately the percent­age of each 15,000,000 gallons which was wasted^ observers who have noted cases of flagrant mis­use of water realize that usage could be reduced enormously by conscientious cooperation of resi­dents and businessmen. Even though the city recent­ly adopted an ordinance prohib­iting water waste, this summer’s Situation indicated it has had lit­tle or no effect on the popula­tion. However, should city offi­cials ever decide to enforce their own ordinance, a fine of $50 or 25 days in jail, or both, has been established as the penalty for violators. Folger pointed' out that the city’s coming indebtedness of $350,000 for a new sewage dis­posal plant was . largely made i necessary by- misuse of the facili- i ties now On hand... He said the j present disposal plant, built by ! the government; only a few short years ago,' was constructed to handle ordinary . sewage —? not millions, of gaUons:|Jt>f wasted water. He reminded ^property owners-that thmr.,, higher taxes and heavier bon8e&‘-|ftaebledness as a result of the1 nfenj bond issue can be blamed to a great extent ! on their own or theif neighbors’ water waste. 1946 figure indicated that the population in Has' Vegas must realize that we no longer have valuable water to squander.” Folger listed two simple rules for consumers to follow to elim­inate water waste: 1. Do not permit any leaking water outlet. to flow into sewer, street or alley; 2. Do not permit cooler water to flow into sewer or cesspool with out the, use of a recapture pump; M ———-----------O -r--------------- . | Residents were not the only I targets of fFolger’I^rdmarks. He commented on the shameful ne- glesf of some downtown Business | houses, whose proprietors have I refused to install pumps to re- | capture cooler 'water, and hence, | are responsible for a high per- 3 ceritage of the waste. i| “If a man — either in business [ or a home owner—ever:, used a recapture pump on his cooler, | he would never be Without one | again,” Folger said. “They make | all the difference in the world, 1 and increase the efficiency ©f coolers -100 per cent.” He said I the cost of a pump is about 10 per cent of the cooler’s original cost. He reminded residents that the , company has no objection to the unlimited beneficial use of water, and pointed to the year. 1946 as the first time in the city’s history that the underground artesian supply was used faster than re­charged by nature. “While we were again ‘in the black’ in 1947,” Folger said, “the 1