Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Spokane River Forum’s “H20 Breakfast” with keynote speaker Pat Mulroy of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, or as we should probably remember the event as, “the time the fork in the road really appeared.”
If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times, yeah we’re lucky to live in a place with abundant water resources, but if we think we don’t have to plan for future shortages or future tough decisions we’re crazy. As perfectly described by Pat Mulroy while talking about a time when Southern Nevada had just a few hundred thousand people and very quickly exploded to two million. Now, we’re certainly not the arid Southwest up here in the Inland Northwest, but lessons can be learned. And that’s what Mulroy did on a
Pat Mulroy, General Manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority
foggy morning in in Couer d’Alene, Idaho. I took away both a real fear for the future, but also a bit of optimism. If two million people and greedy casinos can figure out how to manage a limited water resource, the states of Washington and Idaho should surely be able to come to some kind of understanding. But I’m not a blind optimist. It’s going to be difficult. Many fights will be fought and many egos and pocket books bruised. The bottom line is it has to be done soon than later, and the longer we kick the can down the road the heavier that burden is going to be on future generations. And it has to be done collaboratively. The future of water management is not about people acting independently but interdependently as Mulroy says.
Below is a great video of Pat Mulroy talking at UC Berkeley in 2007 about how Southern Nevada achieved what was once thought impossible and about the challenges that lie ahead. If you missed the H20 Breakfast last week, this is a great chance to pick up what was discussed there.
Enjoy!
