Where Will Southern California Get Its Water?
August 5, 2008 | Posted by Ann Hayden in Water Supply
Ann Hayden is a Senior Water Resource Analyst at EDF.
When it comes to the future of California water, one thing appears fairly certain: imported water supplies from the San Francisco Bay-Delta and Colorado River to Southern California will only continue to become less and less reliable due to extended drought, environmental degradation of the Delta and a growing population.
In light of these significant challenges, the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation has produced a report for the Southern California Leadership Council that evaluates the potential of various water strategies to help maintain reliable water supply for Southern California. Nine different water strategies were evaluated, ranging from conservation to surface storage and ranked based on cost-effectiveness, environmental impacts and overall efficacy.
The LAEDC’s findings are what many environmentalists have been saying for decades. They point to water conservation, storm water capture, recycling and agricultural to urban transfers as the most promising strategies. Now it’s time to turn these findings into reality.
One Response
Comment from jrlund
October 4th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Delta water exports do pose long-term risks for urban water users in southern California. But they are not alone. Many parts of the San Francisco Bay Area are even more dependent on water from the Delta, particularly Santa Clara Valley, Alameda County, and Contra Costa County. These areas are more dependent on the Delta than is southern California. Of course, agriculture in the western San Joaquin Valley and the Tulare Basin also depends significantly on water exports from the Delta.
But about 2/3 of the water that doesn't flow out of the Delta, but would have naturally, is diverted upstream of the Delta.
The causes of the Delta's decline are broad indeed, even if legal responsibility is more narrowly assessed.
Southern California has done a lot to reduce dependence on the Delta, and it will almost certainly do more. The San Francisco Bay Area will have a harder time reducing its Delta abstractions, especially if upstream diverters are included.
Leave a Reply
You must log in to post comments | Login | Register an account
User comments reflect the opinions of the responsible contributor only, and do not reflect the viewpoint of Environmental Defense Fund. We reserve the right to delete comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate. We also reserve the right to delete duplicate comments, or comments that have no relationship to the original post.