Same here Joe. Sorry if it got heated.

I’m actually not going to DC. I am heading pretty far away from DC.

By the way, I do hope that Georgia has success with its water problems and is able to come up with a workable solution.

Charles

Grey-water cannot be used to prepare food, nor to wash dishes, nor for the Bellagio fountain since children and pets might drink it. The homeowners of Las Vegas are basically conserving water to benefit the casinos and hotels.

I have to go, so have a nice life in DC. We in Georgia do NOT want any advice from Nevada on saving water for corporate business to prosper at our expense. Nevada has an aquifer to draw water from, but Atlanta sits on solid rock and we only have surface water for our survival. Your state has always been a desert and we do not desire to become a desert. I do wish you well > off to eat dinner.

Yeah, it’s really hard to argue with you when you refuse to post any links that back up your claims. 50% usage? Sorry if I don’t take the word of the health inspector for restaurants on the Vegas casino strip over numerous studies that have been checked and rechecked.

“Then you claim perhaps 5%.”

5% is the upper limit that some studies have suggested. 5% is certainly much more accurate than saying 50% (your number). Let’s see, I am off by at the most 2% and you are off by 47%.

“Casinos/hotels are open 24hrs a day with constant flushing of toilets, tourists taking showers, restaurants preparing food and washing dishes, etc”

Yes, and that water is what creates the greywater that is recycled by the casinos.

“Nevada claiming it uses only 4% of the Colorada River water is preposterous as well. ”

This number is verified by California, Arizona, and the federal government every year. There are multiple check points that regulate how much water each location gets. If any of the states were cheating, there would be an immediate injuction to stop it. Are you now suggestions that Arizona and California are also making up their data?

Nevada claiming it uses only 4% of the Colorada River water is preposterous as well. More like 25% guy. Have a nice evening. No time to argue with you.

You say that my claim is perposterous yet this is verified by studies from multiple sources including local, state, federal, acedemic, private studies. I challenge you to post a link that proves your claim that the casinos use half of the water here. My other link came from the USGS. Are you suggesting that their data which Arizona and California also rely on is not accurate?

“It appears you must work for Las Vegas’ officials.”

Definitely not true. In fact, I am moving out of here next month due to a promotion with the federal government. I just get tired of people who post comments about Vegas that are not true. It’s one thing to say that a city like this shouldn’t have been built in the desert, but it is another to spread misinformation that the casinos use 50% of the water here. The first statement is an opinion while the second is simply not true.

If you look at how much water Nevada gets out of the Colorado River compared to the rest of the Southwest, you can see we actually get very little:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River_Compact

Lower Basin, 7.5 million acre·ft/year (293 m³/s) total
California 58.70%
Arizona 37.30%
Nevada 4.00%

We only get 4% of the water from the lower basin — far less than Arizona or California.

Again, I am not saying that things are done perfectly here, but there have been substantial improvements.

I think some people have a basic misunderstanding of the need to conserve water. The world will never run out of water. It’s not like oil with a finite amount that we are burning through. The only problem with water is that in some places we don’t have enough fresh water where it is needed. In North Georgia, we actually have plenty of water for our needs. We just don’t have enough for our needs plus the “needs” of Florida and Alabama.

I wish I could give you exact numbers but they are pretty hard to come by. I think you are on the right track with your numbers, but you also have to distinguish use vs. consumption. You are citing a use figure. Most of that water is returned to the river as treated waste. I have heard 80% but can’t vouch for that figure. What doesn’t return to the stream is “consumed” by Atlanta.

So yes, Atlanta probably needs a minimum flow of somewhere around 500 million gallons / day. That matches pretty well with the inflow we are getting into Lanier now. North Georgia could survive very well on the water we have available. We don’t have a whole lot extra to support power plants, oysters, and mussels though.