Pat Mulroy, General Manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority kicked-off the session on public-private partnerships at the recent 6th Annual OC Water Summit with a characteristically powerful and persuasive presentation about Southern Nevada’s infrastructure program. She challenged the private sector to step up and work with public agencies to finance the large infrastructure investments facing the water sector. Southern Nevada’s challenges provided an excellent context for the panel discussion that included former LA Mayor Richard Riordan and California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer. The discussion provides a roadmap for an expanded role for public-private partnerships in water infrastructure finance. Continue reading
Author Archives: Rodney T. Smith
Lawn Fallowing versus Desalination
Outdoor residential water use is increasingly becoming a target for urban water conservation. As western municipalities face more restricted water supplies, water providers are paying residents to take out their lawns permanently. Current programs in Southern Nevada and Los Angeles are yielding water conservation at a cost of $65,000/AF to $87,000/AF. Continue reading
Prediction Markets II: What Are Prediction Markets and Why Do They Work?
My earlier post on Prediction Markets discussed why prediction markets for the water industry. They are the next frontier in water markets—information markets to improve planning and decision-making in the face of uncertainty about legislative and regulatory actions, political change, hydrology, project operations, litigation outcomes and water prices. Currently, discussions of the future are often little more than unsubstantiated opinion. The water industry can do better. Continue reading
Whooping Crane Decision Checks Texas into Hotel California
March 11, 2013 will be a historical date in Texas water when the case The Aransas Project v. Shaw brought Texas into a new era of water resources. Federal District Judge Janis Graham Jack held that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (“TCEQ”) has failed to manage the waters of the San Antonio and Guadalupe Rivers to protect the endangered whooping crane. Texas will now take the journey that California has been (unsuccessfully) traveling for decades over its own Bay-Delta. Texas learned that science, economics and politics governs modern water resource management. In court, Texas water users mostly “bet the ranch” on legal doctrine.