The Southern Nevada Water Authority approved of new resolutions that aim to help curb unnecessary water consumption around the city. One such resolution was banning the planting of grass on new developments so that water can be used for other purposes rather than watering lawns. The other decision that was passed by the board was the ban of evaporative cooling machines in homes and businesses. These decisions will now be passed onto local governments in order to be formally enacted.

“We’re taking some steps that I’m unaware of having any precedent,” said the authority’s general manager John Entsminger.

This will not be the first time that water-saving measures regarding landscaping have been passed in the region. In 1999, the Southern Nevada Water Authority began encouraging residents to replace their grass lawns with more desert-friendly landscaping. As a result of the initiative, billions of gallons of water were saved and millions of square feet of grass were converted. Nonfunctional grass was also banned by Governor Steve Sisolak in 2016 and must be fully removed throughout the state by the end of 2026. Currently, residents are only allowed to have 50 percent of their backyard contain grass, and the new ban will not affect existing homes.

The need for water consumption has always been a high priority for Southern Nevada residents. According to the authority board, residents use up to 112 gallons of water per person, per day. The board hopes to have that drop to just 86 gallons per day by 2035.

“If we can get to 86 by 2035, even with 11 million acre-feet hydrology, we’re okay, certainly for the next 20 to 30 years,” said Entsminger. “If we don’t hit that target, you could be in a situation where we don’t have the water supplies that our community needs within the next 10 to 15 years.”

Officials have enacted the measures because of widespread acknowledgment that the region will soon have less water to provide to homes, businesses and farms and so development for anticipated population growth can be accommodated. Grass can still be planted at schools, parks, cemeteries, golf courses and in existing housing developments.

Lobbyists for developers and commercial real estate opposed the new limits proposed by the water authority, arguing they needed more study.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.