With Southern Nevada in its sixth consecutive year of drought, water conservation is fast becoming a way of life. And avoiding water waste is one of the easiest ways to conserve. Not to mention, by preventing water waste, you can avoid a possible water-waste fee on your water bill.

The most common sources of landscape water waste are:

• Over-irrigation from sprinklers that run longer than necessary.
  

• Over-spray from misaligned or improperly designed sprinkler systems.
  

• Broken sprinklers or drip emitters.
  

• Watering on day(s) not assigned to your watering group.
  

• Watering between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. during time-of-day restrictions May 1 through October 1.

Water waste investigations are handled by the water agency that provides service to the property at issue. In most cases, a water waste investigator will research the issue and notify the customer. Often times, customers are unaware of the water waste problem and the necessary corrections are easily made. When the corrections are not made, customers may be assessed a water waste fee. The fees are based on water meter size and increase with the number of violations.

To prevent landscape water waste:

• Water plants and grass separately.
  

• Use short watering cycles on lawns. Try watering three times for four minutes each with each cycle about an hour apart.
  

• Perform supervised tests of your irrigation system.
  

• Hand water brown spots.

Customers with questions regarding a water-waste notification or fee can call their water provider for more information.

To help property owners and managers identify and correct water-waste problems, the Southern Nevada Water Authority has developed a water-waste video. The video depicts common water-waste problems and solutions.

If you would like to order the SNWA’s water-waste video or report a water-waste issue, go to www.snwa.com  or call the Conservation Helpline at 258-SAVE.