Mulroy: Developers can help build cooperation on Nevada water issues

Jennifer Shubinski

Friday, Aug. 12, 2005 | 11 a.m.

Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy called on the development community to build bridges between urban and rural Nevada.

Mulroy spoke about the valley's water future, urging cooperation between counties and the northern and southern parts of the state in a Thursday presentation to the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties at the Stardust.

"This state has been ripped in half the last 60 years," she said. "There is no connection between Southern Nevada and rural Nevada and frankly, they don't like us."

Mulroy commended the group of about 300 industry professionals on helping the valley conserve water by doing away with grass and monitoring water usage.

"So despite (the fact) that the community has grown by 170,000 people in the past year, our water usage is down by 65,000 acre-feet," she said. "It's not whether you grow, it's how you grow."

Despite conservation efforts and last winter's significant snow fall that will boost water levels at Lake Powell, it is not enough to keep levels at Lake Mead from dropping, she said.

In an attempt to ensure Southern Nevada's future, the Water Authority wants to almost double the 300,000 acre-feet of water it now takes from the Colorado River. The new water supply would come from ground water pumped from wells in Lincoln and White Pine counties.

Lincoln County is cooperating with the Water Authority for the development of water resources. But White Pine County residents are vehemently against any type of agreement that would funnel water downstate.

"It is frustrating, their unilateral refusal to even sit down and talk," she said.

She encouraged the association's members to press candidates for statewide office to take a position on Nevada's water resources and how water should be allocated.

During the past year, the local chapter of NAIOP has become more involved in state issues, lobbying for positions that it thinks would benefit the industry as well as Southern Nevada.

"We have to build bridges to reconnect the two parts of the state," Mulroy said. "It's time to remind everybody this is one state."

Mulroy encouraged NAIOP members to watch what candidates say in Southern Nevada and whether what they say differs from their remarks in Northern Nevada.

Despite her push, when asked by Mark Bouchard, managing director at CB Richard Ellis Las Vegas, who would be in line with Southern Nevada's water needs, Mulroy declined to name any candidate, or potential candidate.

"Here comes the cop-out answer: I'm going to reserve judgment," she said.