It could soon be illegal to install grass in new developments in the Las Vegas Valley.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority board of directors is scheduled to consider a resolution Monday that would pave the way for prohibiting the installation of turf in all new developments, except at schools and in parks and cemeteries.
If the board approves the resolution, the agency will work with municipalities to update local codes.
It’s a proposal that comes as water officials in Southern Nevada seek new routes to conservation. Two decades of drought have parched the Colorado River leading to the first federally declared water shortage for Lake Mead.
Because nearly every drop of water used indoors in Southern Nevada is treated and returned to Lake Mead for later use, conservation here depends almost entirely on how water is used outside. Irrigation accounts for more than half of Nevada’s allocation of Colorado River water each year.