Award Date

5-2014

Degree Type

Honors Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Advisor 1

Jacimaria Batista

Advisor 2

Daniel Gerrity

Advisor 3

Andrew Hanson

Number of Pages

46

Abstract

Due to stresses on the water supply in southern Nevada, which include an average of three million tourists per month and an ongoing drought since the year 2000, water conservation is imperative in order to sustain the growing urban area of Las Vegas. The purpose of this study is to assess water use in fourteen casinos on and off the Las Vegas Strip (the main boulevard of the largest casinos in Las Vegas) in order to suggest approaches for water conservation, such as reducing, reusing, and modifying the current system. Since data on water consumption is not publicly available, five major categories, irrigation, public fixtures, fixtures inside hotel rooms, pools and evaporation) were calculated to estimate each casino’s water consumption. Mapping software, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), was used to calculate the surface area of the irrigated land and the volume of pools and fountains around the casinos. For the fixtures outside and inside the hotel rooms, Clark County Water Reclamation District’s (CCWRD) sewer charges were used to estimate the water consumption. The Las Vegas casinos have some water conservation strategies; however, they consume about 3 billion gallons per year, 54% of which is consumed inside the hotel rooms. Also, as more recent casinos were built, it can be seen that the size of the hotel and the water consumption both decrease. By creating water balances for the current system and different scenarios, water conservations strategies can be implemented. If a grey water system and a complete replacement of landscaping with xeriscaping were implemented in the hotels, a total annual water savings of 554 million gallons for the casinos could be achieved. The benefits of saving water include extending the community’s water resource’s lifetime, allowing SNWA to test grey water systems on a case study group (casinos), saves energy, and allows for possible population expansion.

Keywords

Casinos; Nevada – Las Vegas; Strip (Las Vegas; Nev.); Water conservation; Water consumption; Water-supply

Disciplines

Civil and Environmental Engineering | Gaming and Casino Operations Management | Hospitality Administration and Management | Natural Resources and Conservation | Water Resource Management

Language

English

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