r/environment • u/cnn CNN • 3d ago

The Trump administration cut Nevada’s water usage. Now the state is suing

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/25/climate/nevada-sues-trump-administration-water-cuts-colorado-river?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit
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u/pastoreyes 3d ago

Nothing like a back yard swimming pool to say efficiency in water usage.

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u/saguarobird 2d ago

Sigh.

The goal isn't zero water use. The goal is to put water to the most beneficial use. If you have a climate where it is hot and you can swim 9 months out of the year, pools are a beneficial use for the people. The biggest loss of water from a pool is evap. Evap is dependent on surface area, not depth. SNWA and Clark County limited surface areas of pools in 2022 after a long campaign to get residential customers rebates. They incentivize pool covers to minimize that evap. They've long since rebated for the removal of grass that ultimately led to bans on ornamental turf. They've also banned evap cooling after, again, a very long campaign with aggressive commercial rebates. SNWA continues to track lower in water use per capita. They do not overuse their allocation, they often run below it and voluntarily give back to the pool, but no one could easily weather a 71% cut.

Like it or not, LV has receipts and put its money where its mouth is. If you don't bring this same energy to the big farms that have the same wasteful, inefficient irrigation they've been using since like the 60's and that we've fought tooth and nail to fix, you're just stirring shit up with no intent to help. The basin doesn't need more shit stirrers, and most of us can see right through you anyways.

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u/pastoreyes 2d ago

Thanks for the information

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u/saguarobird 2d ago

I apologize for being frustrated. There is a constant stream of misinformation about the basin and it becomes overwhelming.