Matt Jenkins, the best journalist we’ve got covering water in the western United States, has an insightful cover story in the latest High Country News on Pat Mulroy, the recently retired head of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. (Not on line yet – subscribe!) Mulroy is known for being brash and pugnacious, but Matt gets …
With Lake Mead projected to drop 15 feet between now and mid summer, to historic lows, the National Park Service is planning to spend another $5 million extending boat ramps, Steven Slivka at the Boulder City Review reported today: Vanover said drought conditions are expected to continue, and the Park Service is ready to deal …
Continue reading ‘Park Service to spend $5 million chasing water at Lake Mead’ »
LAS VEGAS – I like the fact that Las Vegas, Nev., is preserving the relics of its water origin story. From “spring hill” at the Springs Preserve municipal park, you can see the towers of Las Vegas’s gambling strip. Visitation at the park this afternoon when I snuck away for a bird-watching walk after a morning …
Getting mentally packed for a reporting trip later this month to southern Nevada, I ran across this delightful bit of business, from (I think) 1904: William R. Clark, a U.S. Senator from Montana, had bought an old ranch in the valley in 1902, land that became the staging area for the Union Pacific’s construction of …
Continue reading ‘Las Vegas, Nev.: “Splendid Climate and Pure Water”’ »
Basic Magnesium Inc. was a water materiel plant built in the desert south of Las Vegas in the early years of World War II. Its owner built a company town to house workers. This picture (which I love) says something powerful about the motivations and practices of turning a pre-fab desert shack into a home.
I love this bit of business from Charles Fishman’s visit to Angel Park, a Las Vegas golf course, in his book The Big Thirst: By the time a golfer steps up to the first tee, Angel Park has used 2,507 gallons of water to make that round of golf possible, 139 gallons of water for …
Las Vegas golf course developer selling water rights at $20,000/af (http://t.co/3wP6VliFTm) Lower price than 2012 (http://t.co/S8d4dg8rf6) — Brett Walton (@waltonwater) June 24, 2014 In 2012 The Walters Group, a golf course outfit, offered millions of dollars of water rights at $25,500 per acre foot. Two years later, the going price seems to have dropped: The …
Continue reading ‘Las Vegas water rights not what they used to be’ »
To Colorado Basin water nerds’ favorite question – What’s Pat up to? – we have an answer. According to the Las Vegas Sun, former Las Vegas water czar Pat Mulroy is joining the Brookings Mountain West project: Robert Lang, director of Brookings Mountain West, said the shrinking Colorado River is one of the most critical …
You can’t understand water in the west without understanding urban growth patterns. They’re joined at the hip. Here, in a single graph, is the explanation for the Vegas announcement yesterday that its two main water agencies are laying off 7.5 percent of their staff: Henry Brean explained it thus: The Southern Nevada Water Authority and …
Continue reading ‘In Las Vegas, an acknowledgment that growth is gone’ »
There’s so much rich material in Henry Brean’s exit interview of Pat Mulroy, the outgoing head of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, that I barely know where to begin, but let’s start with water pricing. Mulroy makes clear (as she always has) that she viewed it as her responsibility to deliver the water the community …
Continue reading ‘Mulroy on growth, supply and water pricing’ »