Every day more than a dozen conservation consultants with the Truckee Meadows Water Authority (TMWA) drive around Reno/Sparks communities in search of water that's going to waste.
Their efforts are said to be as similar as going fishing, because they never know what they're going to find.
"Out there monitoring and it's totally random when they come across somebody watering on their wrong day,” said Laine Christman, Conservation Supervisor with TMWA.
Every now and then they find someone who isn't following TMWA protocol. In fact, TMWA makes 5,000 educational interactions with customers violating the rules each year.
When they find a violation, the consultant video records it for proof. They then check to see if the customer has permission to be watering on an unassigned day. If not, the resident is given an informational baggie, warning them of what they've done wrong.
Every resident has assigned days of when they're allowed to water their lawn, however nobody can water on Mondays because that's when TMWA does the maintenance work of replenishing the water systems.
In addition to watering at the wrong time or day, water waste is frowned upon as well. Broken sprinklers or too much run-off will also earn you a visit from a TMWA consultant.
"Right now in the heat of the summer people are trying to keep things alive and we're just out there trying to help them use water efficiently,” said Christman.
Water efficiency can be the key to delaying the effects of drought. Even long longtime locals agree that more water is not always better.
"I think the yard stays really nice looking on three days, we water evening and morning on those three days and we don't have too many problems other than a couple dry spots but it's pretty minor,” said Reno resident Darrel Mormando.
If you aren’t sure which days you’re supposed to be watering or you’d like to report someone using too much water, you can find that link here: https://tmwa.com/article/assigned-day-watering/
