Friday, April 09, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Officials to take river trip

Mulroy to represent Nevada on trek

Drought is expected to dominate discussion next week when some of the West's most powerful water officials pack their gear and climb into rafts for an eight-day, 225-mile trip through the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River.

The trip will be led by Bennett Raley, the U.S. Department of Interior's assistant secretary for water and science.

He will be joined by Pat Mulroy, general manager for the Southern Nevada Water Authority; Dennis Underwood, vice president of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California; and David "Sid" Wilson, general manager of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District.

"This is Bennett's trip," Mulroy said. "I think the point is to try to engage the lower basin's three main water suppliers in looking for drought solutions."

Also on hand will be Robert Johnson, director of the Bureau of Reclamation's Lower Colorado Region, and other officials from the bureau, the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Filling out the two 24-foot rafts will be a representative from the Environmental Defense Fund, a press photographer and six newspaper reporters.

Participants will board the boats Tuesday at Lee's Ferry, not far from the boundary between the upper and lower basins established by the Colorado River Compact of 1922.

The raft trip ends April 20 at Diamond Creek, about 15 miles north of the small town of Peach Springs, Ariz.

Along the way, participants will hear briefings on climatic predictions, drought conditions, endangered species management, pending water legislation and other topics.

Mulroy said she hates to camp and would prefer to see the Grand Canyon from the comfort of a helicopter.

But she plans to use her first trip down the river to urge cooperation among the region's water purveyors and dispel a few stubborn myths about water use in Las Vegas.

"No decisions will be made, but I think certain concepts will be deemed worthy of future discussion, things that historically have not been the mold," Mulroy said.

"I see it as an opportunity to have some serious discussion on the situation in which Southern Nevada finds itself."

She also plans to talk to her fellow water officials and the media about the conservation efforts now under way in the Las Vegas Valley, including the $33 million slated to be spent on the water authority's turf removal rebate program during the next fiscal year.

"I don't think they fully appreciate the magnitude of what we have accomplished," she said.

One topic Mulroy is unlikely to broach is the water authority's desire to draw on the surface rights it owns on the Virgin River after the water makes its way into Lake Mead.

The other basin states are expected to fight that idea, which is not allowed under the present "law of the river."

"I'm not sure it would be productive to bring that up now," she said. "Not in the middle of this drought. We've got to get through this crisis first."

Mulroy is Nevada's lone representative.

She will leave the tour Friday at Phantom Ranch, about 88 miles down river from Lee's Ferry, so she can attend her daughter's confirmation.

The trip will cost about $900 per person.

Each participant had to pay his or her own way.