Thirty Years Of Cleaner Water Service In Moapa Valley

By MAGGIE MCMURRAY

Moapa Valley Progress

Moapa Valley business, Whitney Water Systems is celebrating its 30th anniversary. The company was started on July 1, 1987, when current owner Bruce Whitney purchased a water conditioning sales division of what was then Valley Rental from Curt and Beth Waite.

Whitney had been traveling into Las Vegas for work and was looking for something different when this opportunity presented itself. “I wanted to be able to work in the valley without having to commute to Vegas to support my family,” Whitney remembers. “When I decided to buy the water conditioning business, I felt like it would be good for our family in the long run.”

At that time, the water conditioning business that Whitney purchased had about 90 customers. Curt Waite had made arrangements with Walt Casey Water in Las Vegas to do water softener tank exchanges with the business. Whitney inherited and continued with that contract. Whitney picked up the water softeners from their customers, exchanged them for new ones, and then took the used ones to Walt Casey Water to be cleaned, refilled, and reset. This meant that Whitney was still making several trips a week into Las Vegas.

After about six months, he knew things had to change. “I began to look for an alternative that would save me all those trips into Vegas while making the company more profitable,” he said.
Whitney found his answer with Intermountain Soft Water out of Orem, Utah. He made a deal with them to purchase and rent water softeners from them. That is how he continued on for the next ten years.
“We rented more at first,” he said. “But as the market began to change, we began to sell more and more water softeners.”

In addition to selling the units, the company also serviced the softeners, made salt deliveries, and installed reverse osmosis systems.
In 1998, the focus of the company changed when Whitney got his contractor’s license and took the company into the plumbing market. “We began doing plumbing installation, mostly on new homes, while keeping the water conditioning business on the side,” Whitney said. “Plumbing installers were in such demand that, at one time, we had thirteen employees working on new home constructions.”
Whitney continued in the new home construction plumbing business for the next nine years before deciding to get out in 2007, about a year before the real estate market crashed.

At that time, the company switched its focus again. Still keeping the water conditioning business, it changed from doing plumbing installation to doing plumbing repairs and water service, which is what it continues to focus on today.

The company employs two main plumbing technicians, Justin England and Anthony Sosa. These technicians fix and install water heaters, repair leaky pipes drains, faucets, and toilets, do drain cleaning, and still install and service water softeners. Brenda Bowler runs the office.
Bruce himself still actively runs the company. But now he takes care of the business side of things: helping with bids, and placing orders.

About 6 months ago the company began to do bathtub and shower remodels. They do everything including taking out old baths and putting in new surrounds, showers, and tubs.

Bruce has also been writing an informational “Did You Know” piece for the PROGRESS since 2014. These come out about twice a month, both in the Moapa Valley Progress and a newspaper in Mesquite. The brief articles contain information and insider tips about plumbing and water conditioning that aim to help make people more aware of potential issues and what they can do to prevent future problems and emergencies.

Due to the nature of the company, there is not a big celebration party planned for their big anniversary. “There’s not really much we can do,” Bruce said. “We don’t really have a store and we’re mostly a business that people call when they need us, not because we’re having a special.”

Still, Whitney wanted to celebrate. So the business will celebrate its 30th anniversary by supporting “Folds of Honor.” “Folds of Honor” is a program that provides educational scholarships to the children and spouses of fallen and disabled servicemen and -women. So Whitney Water has a goal of raising $5,000 this year for one scholarship for a family member of a fallen soldier. Whitney encourages anyone who would like to join them in this effort to go to http://support.foldsofhonor.org/goto/whitneyswater to help raise money to support this great cause.

Whitney is excited to see what the future holds as the company changes and adapts with the changing needs of the valley. “I’ve got a great team that works with me now and when I’m ready to retire in the next 5 to 10 years, they’ll be ready to take over. I see Whitney’s Water Systems being around for another 30 years.”

More information about the company can be found at www.whitneyswater.com, or they can be reached by calling 702-398-3671. Whitney says the phones are answered 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week, including holidays, nights and weekends for help whenever your water-related emergency may happen.