Southern Nevada delegation bound for international water gathering in Singapore

A delegation from Nevada is headed to Singapore this week to officially launch a new water-related economic development initiative on the world stage.

The nonprofit, public-private Nevada Center of Excellence was created more than a year ago, but it has developed more slowly than expected. A five-day international water conference in Singapore, which starts Saturday, will serve as its coming-out party.

The center’s goal is to use the state’s resources and expertise to attract water-related industries and jobs.

It may seem like a tough sell in the nation’s driest spot, but if any place has had to embrace water innovation, it’s Nevada.

“We do have a water economy,” said Tom Skancke, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance. “We wouldn’t have an economy if we didn’t have water.”

Kenneth Ladd is a retired U.S. Bank executive heading up the Center of Excellence. He said there is no better place in the world to help find solutions to water issues or help bring water-related products to market, thanks to the job training programs offered by College of Southern Nevada and others and the research being conducted around the globe by scientists from UNLV, UNR and the Desert Research Institute.

Then there is the water quality laboratory the Southern Nevada Water Authority has established at its River Mountains treatment facility in Henderson. The lab provides equipment and expertise to other state and federal agencies. “That research facility is internationally known,” Ladd said.

The 13-member delegation headed to Signapore includes representatives from the agencies and organizations that are collaborating on the center, including the water authority, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, the Nevada System of Higher Education, the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, and the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance.

Leading the group is former water authority general manager Pat Mulroy, now a senior fellow for climate adaptation and environmental policy at UNLV’s Brookings Mountain West and a distinguished faculty associate with DRI.

Ladd said Mulroy has been a keynote speaker during Singapore International Water Week in the past.

The trip to Southeast Asia will put the Center of Excellence in the same room with representatives of more than 1,000 companies from more than 100 countries. Ladd called it “the largest and most important water convention in the world.”

Other states are using the center of excellence model with success. Nevada created its first such public-private partnership early last year, but it has taken until now to get it ready for its public debut.

“It’s taken a little bit longer than everyone had hoped,” Ladd conceded, but now they are on their way.

The center finally launched its website last month, and the conference is expected to significantly increase the organization’s profile. After that, organizers hope to see a flood of business opportunities start to wash in.

Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Find him on Twitter: @RefriedBrean.