Extended Interview

Ken Nichols Water Waste Investigator Southern Nevada Water Authority   Read more extended interviews.

This interview has not been edited for content.

Interviewer:  Go ahead and tell me the process that you go through… what are you looking for here?

Ken Nichols:  We noticed a house that was watering during the day and they shouldn't have been watering so we stopped and gave them a door hanger and we notified that they are in water group "C" and they should only be watering on Monday and Wednesday and Fridays.  That notification will lead to them getting a letter in the mail.

Interviewer:  We were talking to the Water Authority.  Tell me the process that you go through—it really doesn't have to be specific to this individual here but tell me what you're doing.  You're patrolling these neighborhoods and doing what?  What are you looking for?

Ken Nichols:  We're looking for people who are watering on days that they shouldn't or in time periods where they shouldn't be watering. We're looking for broken sprinklers in areas where people are watering on their assigned days.  We're looking for irrigation problems like stuck irrigation valves and breaks in irrigation systems and people draining pools to the street, water feature in front yards that exceed the limitations and that are operating, misters that might be running on commercial properties.  When we see a violation we stop and videotape it and contact the customer through a door hanger or phone call or letter and then we try to help educate them on the process and correct the problem so it doesn't occur again.  If they don't correct the problem in a timely manner then it leads to a fee.

Interviewer:  Talk about the educational purpose of what you're trying to do here.

Ken Nichols:  Often where we see a misaligned sprinkler system or someone is over- irrigating, we can help educate them by explaining how to properly align nozzles and how to adjust their irrigation run time so we don't have water flowing off onto the street.  We also have lots of pamphlets that show where sewer drain points so they can drain their swimming pools into the sewer system and not to the street.  We spend a lot of time trying to help the customer with conservation efforts in saving water.  We try to inform individuals to water on the correct days.  It will save them money and help us save a precious resource.  We try to help them irrigate their lawns efficiently so they won't have brown spots and we also try to help them out and not have water flowing to the streets with their drained swimming pools and spas.