Water Authority’s Pat Mulroy to retire

Patricia Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), participates on a panel during the National Clean Energy Summit 6.0 at the Mandalay Bay Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2013.

Pat Mulroy, one of the most powerful executives in the state, said Monday she was going to retire as general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, where she has worked aggressively to ensure that Las Vegas doesn’t go dry.

Mulroy, who became boss of the water authority when it was created in 1991, said she hadn’t set a date and would prepare an “orderly transition.”

During her 22-year tenure, Mulroy worked to ensure that Southern Nevadans had water sufficient to allow explosive growth, nursing water reserves through aggressive conservation efforts while plotting new pipelines — one to ship water from underground reservoirs in Northern Nevada and another to pull water with a deeper straw in drought-stricken Lake Mead.

Although there has been no official announcement, Mulroy has begun discussions with authority board members about a transition in recent days and confirmed her departure to the Sun late Monday.

“I think it’s time to have that discussion about ‘Where do we go from here?’” Mulroy said. “I have not set a date. It will be when all of that is teed up.”

Mulroy also serves as the general manager of the Las Vegas Valley Water District, a position she has had since 1989.

Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak said he’d heard Mulroy was planning to step down but hadn’t spoken to her Monday.

“I knew it was coming, but I’ll let her do her own explaining,” said Sisolak, who declined further comment.

County Commissioner Susan Brager, an authority board member, said she hadn’t spoken with Mulroy about the retirement directly but praised her leadership throughout the past two decades.

“It’s been an awesome task she’s undertaken. She’s given great leadership at some very challenging times,” Brager said of Mulroy. “She has an incredible knowledge and understanding of what’s going on from the good times to the drought in order to make sure Southern Nevada has the water it needs.”

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