I gave my students a brief lecture on Las Vegas water issues so it's nice that this issue reared its head.
The other day I commented on how much I love Maude Barlow and T. Boone Pickens. I can always rely on them to generate fodder for a decent blog post. But I was remiss in excluding Pat Mulroy, the Executive Director and creator of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, who can always be counted on for a blogworthy event, as she wanders the Western USA like a modern-day Diogenes, searching not for an honest man, but for water.
Now she channels the venerable Monty Hall, co-creator and original host of the iconic show, Let's Make a Deal. She wants to make a deal with Utah.
At least she dresses better than Monty.
All this started a few weeks ago, when Mulroy trashed Utah and Salt Lake City in an interview on a Las Vegas TV station (view KSL-TV's report). She chided Salt Lake City residents for not being able to spell 'conservation.' I find her criticism of Salt Lake City amusing, given that her home city:
- has a reputed mob lawyer, Oscar Goodman, as mayor;
- owes its existence to a gangster, its patron saint Bugsy Siegel;
- has perfected the ability to fleece marks - excuse me, I mean 'tourists' - while convincing them they are having a good time and to visit again real soon; and
- lets her and her husband use 700,000 gallons (over two acre-feet) of water annually!
Maybe Mulroy should take a crack at spelling 'conservation.' Wonder if SNWA still bans graywater systems?
Here is an interesting comment on Mulroy and her 'addiction.' This article describes the worldwide attention focused on Las Vegas' water woes.
So where's the Monty Hall connection? Well, Mulroy dropped a bombshell during the interview. As reported by Patty Henetz in the Salt Lake Tribune:
A top Nevada water chief made a splash during a recent Las Vegas television interview, trash-talking Salt Lake City for being too bucolic, its residents for not being able to spell conservation and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert for not signing a contentious Snake Valley water-sharing agreement.
Then Pat Mulroy, executive director of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, dropped a bomb: She offered to keep a 285-mile, $3 billion Las Vegas pipeline away from Snake Valley's aquifer if Utah would just give up some of the Colorado River water the Beehive State is promised under federal law.
"If the state of Utah wanted us out of Snake Valley, they could accomplish it tomorrow," Mulroy said during the KCVB interview. "All they need to do is agree that when ... we get into critical [Lake Mead shortages], they will absorb that portion of Nevada's shortage that would have been replaced by Snake Valley resources."
Whoa! Such a deal, Utah. You don't have to pick Door #1, Door #2, or Door #3.
There is a catch, though: the deal's virtually impossible.
But as federal and state water authorities point out, the statement is untrue and, in fact, the proposal would be illegal.
"It's a good news bite," said Utah Division of Water Resources Dennis Strong. "But it's not possible and she knows it."
She could get Utah to make the deal, if she got all seven Colorado River Compact states to agree. In your dreams!
Ah, the Las Vegas casino ploy: promise something that is totally unattainable.
Mulroy's video rant is no surprise, given her aggressive nature. But in the past year or so, she's uttered words like 'collaboration' and 'cooperation' more frequently.
She's desperate, and like Jack Bauer, she's running out of time. The Nevada Supreme Court pulled the plug on her precious groundwater and her Federal angel, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), may not be returned to DC.
But I'm still not betting against Pat Mulroy. She's got something cooking.
Aside: I'm co-keynoting the 11 May 2010 Annual Conference of the Utah Section of the American Water Resources Association with Mike Styler, Executive Director of the Utah DNR. I'll have to think of some good Las Vegas jokes.
Download 2010 AWRA Utah_Annual _Conference_Agenda
"One can envision a horror story." -- Dr. John D. Bredehoeft, referring to SNWA's planned pumping from Snake Valley, Op-Ed, Salt Lake Tribune, 15 January 2010
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