NPR has a lot going on with water this week.
Beginning on 12 June 2007 Morning Edition will feature a four-part series Struggling Over Water. The series will examine Las Vegas' efforts to build a 300-mile pipeline to send ground water pumped from rural eastern Nevada to the metropolitan area (see my 22 April 2007 post "Las Vegas Gets Some More Water"), and profile Patricia Mulroy of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the controversial but highly effective water manager responsible for providing water to fuel Las Vegas' spectacular growth. This'll be the classic "Craps vs. Crops" situation. The Colorado River, main surface water source for the region will also be featured. On the last day, the focus switches to the eastern USA and Tennessee in particular, in the throes of a terrible drought.
In the peculiar realm that is Southwest USA water, Las Vegas is known as the "800-pound gorilla" and Mulroy is its keeper. Water managers tremble and clutch their water rights when she walks into a room. But she is good - damn good - at what she does.
For all you bottled water fans, check out For Poland Spring Bottles, There Is An Afterlife, which tells the story of plastic bottles in the bottled water industry and efforts to recycle them.
"We grow too soon old and too late smart." -- Unknown
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