Drought can bring fountain of pretty yet practical solutions

Remember when the drought caused water restrictions in 2003 and the ban on commercial fountains caused such hoopla?

The Strip was exempted, and Boca Park circumvented it by trucking in its own water. Canyon Gate Country Club turned off the fountain that graced its entrance, leaving it to look like a dry riverbed, the antithesis of a luxury gated community. Nobody knows how many other commercial fountains went dry or were never installed.

Grumbling by local businesses and citizens resulted in exemptions to the commercial fountain ban in Clark County. In June 2004, the city of Las Vegas passed an ordinance creating more liberal exemptions, the only government entity to take that stance in the face of Southern Nevada's drought. After that ordinance passed, Canyon Gate, which is in the city, removed 30 acres of grass in order to be granted permission to turn its fountain back on in January 2005.

One Queensridge Place, the luxury twin-tower high-rise complex at Rampart Boulevard and Alta Drive, took a slightly different approach.

Fountain? What fountain? That water cascading down 45 feet in stair steps, the one with sculptures atop resembling horses plunging through a river? That isn't really a fountain.

It's a cooling tower augmentation unit, part of the heating and air conditioning system. It only looks like a fancy fountain.

It's really a practical design that Harris Engineers and STO Engineers say will save energy, said developer Frank Pankratz, president of Executive Home Builders. "It's part of the cooling tower, and the byproduct is the visual aspect."

In other words, it's pretty and practical.

However, nobody informed the Las Vegas Valley Water District that this was no mere fountain.

Thus, One Queensridge Place has been cited twice for water wasting. The first citation was Oct. 18 for $160; the second was Nov. 20 for $320, said water district spokesman Scott Huntley. The two citations issued for water waste have been suspended until officials from the water district and the city of Las Vegas can meet with One Queensridge Place officials to assess whether this is a functional cooling system and whether it uses an amount of water comparable to a regular cooling tower.

The water district's position is that until its officials are convinced it is a functional cooling system, the water waste investigation will continue, which could subject the developers to another fine if it's not resolved this month, Huntley said.

The city is taking a more lenient view. When the water district citations began, city officials said an exemption was needed. Then, on Nov. 20, reminded by the developers that the city signed off on the plans in 2004, the city sent a reassuring letter to One Queensridge Place saying no exemption was needed. It's exempted from the ban since it's a "necessary and functional component serving other allowable uses."

Since my own engineering skills are akin to jokes about how many (fill in the blank) does it take to screw in a light bulb, I'll count on the experts to find out if the system uses the amount of water comparable to a regular cooling tower.

The engineers predict there will be a potential energy savings of 10 percent to 12 percent for the project, which has 219 units selling for $1.5 million to $25 million.

But here's the rub: The water district is more interested in water savings than in energy savings. Pat Mulroy, general manager of the water district, previously said evaporation from hotel cooling towers results in more water evaporation than from the water features at the Strip hotels.

I suspect when all is said and done, One Queensridge Place will receive permission from the water district to operate its cooling tower/fountain and will move ahead merrily selling its spectacular units.

Along with Wynn Las Vegas' lagoon and waterfall, the Bellagio's lake and dancing fountains, The Venetian's canal and Treasure Island's Buccaneer Bay, One Queensridge Place's tumbling water will stand as a symbol of luxury and elegance in Las Vegas.

Even if it is a more prosaic-sounding cooling tower augmentation unit.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275.