Southern Nevada Water Authority receives $29M in state grants

The Southern Nevada Water Authority will bolster its new septic system conversion program and ramp up its grass replacement efforts with two state grants totaling $29 million.

The water authority is getting a $5 million grant from the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to fund the voluntary septic system replacement program the authority created this year.

The program offers financial assistance for the authority to current septic systems users in connecting to the municipal sewer system.

The authority had received $1.7 million from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and $3 million from the Environmental Protection Agency for the program.

Once the grant money expires, users will be responsible for the fees to contact to the municipal sewer system, said Bronson Mack, the water authority’s spokesperson.

Those fees to connect will likely be between $200 and $250 annually, similarly to Clark County’s annual sewer fees, he said.

“A lot of these properties that are on septic are also on groundwater, so they’re not using municipal water directly,” Mack said.

He said property owners interested in switching from septic to sewer must contribute 15% of the total conversion cost. The program would cover the remaining 85% up to $40,000.

Mack said once the program is in full swing, it would be ideal for entire neighborhoods to make the conversion from septic to sewer at once rather than piecemeal.

“There are economies of scale that can be achieved by converting more people in a close geographic area,” he said.

The program is another tool in the water authority’s arsenal to conserve water, with a two-decade drought leaving less water for Southern Nevada and states sharing the allotment from the Colorado River.

Wastewater discharged through the sewer system is sent to a treatment plant and ultimately returned to Lake Mead, according to the authority.

Water returned to the lake earns return-flow credits to allow Southern Nevada to recycle and reuse those resources to stretch the supply.

The other grant — $24 million from the Nevada Water Conservation and Infrastructure Initiative — will fund the water authority’s Water Smart Landscape Rebate Program. In 2022, Mack said, the fund had $25 million, but with the grant money, the rebate initiative will be working with $37 million this year.

The Water Smart Landscapes rebate pays homeowners, businesses, HOAS and multifamily properties to replace their grass from with desert landscaping at a rate of $3 per square foot for the first 10,000 square feet and $1.50 for the remainder.

Mack said the program has helped remove 220 million square feet of grass, saving 12 billion gallons of water annually.

Mack said the water authority will focus mainly on single-family residences, because under state law, commercial properties, homeowners associations and multifamily residential properties have until the end of 2026 to remove nonfunctional grass.

“Many of them are participating in the Water Smart Landscape Rebate Program,” Mack said. “We’re seeing some pretty good participation from homeowners too, but our anticipation is that this grant will be utilized in order to further incentivize homeowners.”

The water authority was also attempting to obtain a grant that would have provided $14.7 million for a “rate of flow control station” in Henderson.

Mack said the station would serve as a giant water meter tracking how much water the authority delivers to a high-elevation part of Henderson.

Justin Emerson, a public information officer for the city of Henderson, said the station would help meet a projected increase in water demand from 5.5 million gallons per day to 10.5 million gallons per day within that zone, which is mainly residential.

He said the zone mostly consists of parts of Henderson with an elevation between 1,645 feet and 1,773 feet. Emerson said the zone is roughly bordered by Arroyo Grande Boulevard, Warm Springs Road, Lake Mead Parkway and Galleria Drive.

“The current source of water is from existing Southern Nevada Water Authority rate of flow control stations that provide water to the City of Henderson through higher water pressure zones that are nearing capacity,” Emerson said.