Public-Private Partnerships: Creating Opportunities by Developing Sustainable Water Supplies

Public-Private Partnerships:  What are they? How do they work? What are the risks and benefits? The objective of this paper is to provide the reader with insight as to what Public-Private Partnerships are and how they work, and also how they might work for a project that you have. Although Public-Private Partnerships can be used to facilitate and create opportunity for many types of projects, the focus of this paper will be on Public-Private Partnerships used to create sustainable water supply projects, a specialty. The case studies presented are Nevada projects; however, the concept can be used as a template on how to create these types of arrangements in other states.

Case studies from Nevada in which Vidler Water Company (Vidler) is involved include (a) the development of water rights in Lincoln County, Nevada to further approved master plan projects within Lincoln County, (b) construction and environmental permitting of the resource and infrastructure to convey water on Fish Springs Ranch to the North Valley areas north of Reno, Nevada, and (c) construction of infra-structure between Carson City and Lyon County, Nevada to facilitate water transfers and emergency utility improvements. These are a few of the projects that Vidler is working on that illustrate the structuring of Public-Private Partnerships that are beneficial to both the private and public sector; were it not for the joint effort between the two sectors, the projects would not have come to fruition.