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’ »
Lunch today sitting in the car at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, with a pond of snow geese, pintails and assorted other water fowl wintering here in one of the few broad wet spots in the Middle Rio Grande Valley of central New Mexico. A birder friend explained once that the car makes …
Continue reading ‘Water in the desert, Bosque del Apache plumbing edition’ »
California, listen to me. (Grabs home state firmly by the shoulders, stares into California’s face intensely.) You can do this. It’s going to be OK. I know, I know. “Zero” sounds bad. But you go into a drought with the water supply and water system you have, not the one you might want or wish …
Continue reading ‘Breathe, California. Keep it together. You can do this.’ »
Nevada journalist George Knapp has a wacky suggestion for Pat Mulroy on her way out the door at the Southern Nevada Water Authority: [I]t is still possible for Mulroy to make a grand, parting gesture by starting the ball rolling on a plan to drain Lake Powell…. This’d make an excellent final chapter for my …
Continue reading ‘Pat Mulroy, the Hayduke of the 21st century’ »
I’ve been writing recently about the struggles to set sane water rates for Albuquerque that take into account conservation goals as well as the need to maintain cash flow for for a largely fixed-cost operation. It’s a tough problem. But imagine sorting this out for an entire nation: BEIJING—China will roll out wide-reaching reforms in …
Continue reading ‘Imagine having to set water rates for an entire nation’ »
User “A” has some water rights that he or she would like to put to use for economic benefit, but with the current amount available and the current economics of the business in question, it’s just not penciling out. User “B” comes along offering to pay to put the water to an alternative use. What’s …
While much of the attention on the “ridiculously resilient ridge” has, rightly, focused on its effect on California’s drought, out here in the intermountain west we’ve been suffering too. Albuquerque is on the brink of its longest precip-free winter stretch on record (these records go back to 1920). And for the Colorado Basin? What had …
Continue reading ‘Drought, the “ridge” and the Colorado Basin’ »
From this morning’s newspaper: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said Texas can go ahead with its lawsuit that claims groundwater pumping in southern New Mexico is draining the Rio Grande and depriving Texas users of water to which they are legally entitled. Texas cleared a major hurdle with the decision, which could set the …
My colleauge Lauren Villagran, our new Las Cruces bureau, wrote in this morning’s Journal about the struggle over the future of the Gila River in New Mexico: Should the river run wild, or be managed and controlled? Should New Mexico take the water or leave it?