In praise of Pat
August 19, 2009
To: Chairperson Shari Buck, Vice Chair Steven Kirk, Director Susan Brager, Director Tom Collins, Director Duncan McCoy, Director Steve Sisolak and Director Lois Tarkanian, Board of Directors, Southern Nevada Water Authority
Dear Directors,
I write in praise of Patricia Mulroy, or, as she prefers, Pat. No place in the country has a smarter, harder working, more formidable water manager than Pat Mulroy. And nowhere deserves her more than Los Angeles.
Pat Mulroy is a miracle of energy, intelligence and ambition. Plus, let it be noted, she’s hot.…
Central Valley, observed
THANKS to Aquafornia, the news feed for the Water Education Foundation, for catching this NASA image from the Earth Observatory. From NASA: The image was made from data collected by NASA’s Terra satellite between July 12 and July 27, 2009. This image shows how vegetation fared in 2009 compared to 2000 and 2008. To see a larger image with key and to read an excellent accompanying article, click here.…
Heartbreak, anger in the West Desert
“DOES anyone think Southern Nevada [Water Authority] is going to build a $15 billion pipeline and then let somebody turn it off?” — Snake Valley rancher Cecil Garland, pictured above center.…
The decades that were, 1989-2009
OWING to events out of Nevada and Utah, the regular Monday feature, “The week that was” is pre-empted this week for “The decades that were.” The Southern Nevada Water Authority board meeting scheduled this week comes only two months shy of the 20th anniversary of the (then) newly appointed Las Vegas water manager Patricia Mulroy stunning Nevada with applications for half of the estimated groundwater then legally unclaimed in the state — for Las Vegas.
This Thursday, after two decades of largely unfettered growth in Greater Las Vegas, Mrs Mulroy’s board will give her an up-or-down vote on whether they wish to proceed with construction of the almost 300-mile-long pipeline, estimated cost $3.5bn, that tapping this water in five initial basins would require. To watch it live online starting at 9am, click here.
…
Beyond green
FROM TODAY’s Los Angeles Times op-ed pages:
YOU KNOW it’s the silly season when a member of the Los Angeles City Council weighs in on the importance of green lawns during a drought, as the 12th District’s Greig Smith did several weeks ago. Yet the council member’s motion, which sought to reduce watering times but increase days of the week when watering could be done, exemplifies the frustration of homeowners across Southern California. “For more than a decade, we have had a policy of greening, not browning Los Angeles,” Smith said.
It’s poignant, this bid to find a water-savvy way to keep Los Angeles green. It cuts straight to the heart of the problem with the way we garden. It’s color. We, in common with Smith, have been taught that green is good and brown is bad. In fact, the opposite is true. …
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