Map of San Diego County
Here in San Diego County, we have a highly diverse range in climates, in fact, we are the most biologically diverse county in the country. From the oceanic coast, to the rolling foothills, to the tall mountains, to the expansive desert - the one thing the whole County has in common is we import the VAST majority of our water.
San Diego County - Inches
When trying to calculate our water supply, we should first start with what we have locally. Above we see the general range in rainfall amounts across the county. If we look below, we see that 16% of our water is from local supply. This includes surface water, groundwater, recycled water and conservation. This amount could jump up significantly if we embraced rainwater harvesting on a large-scale. Learn more how much we could be catching on our Catching Rainwater page. Additionally, water recycling and greywater systems both have HUGE potential for using water MUCH more efficiently, we will discuss these in future blogs.
Next we see that about 20% of our water is imported from northern California. This source relies on the Sierra snow pack, something that has been shrinking over recent years, see the report for details. The snow pack is important because it is like a bank account of water that can be relied upon into summer as it melts and flows down to the delta where the water is collected and exported to us. Unfortunately, even in non-drought years when the Sierras get a healthy snow pack, rising temperatures are melting the snow much faster than previous years causing us and many others to loose that critical time-released water.
|
|
By far, the largest portion of our water comes from the Colorado River, about 64%. This water is obtained by the San Diego County Water Authority through a long-term water conservation and transfer agreement with the Imperial Irrigation District and two canal-lining agreements that transfer conserved water to San Diego County. Moving water over these long distances has significant costs and liabilities.
For one, 20% of out entries state's electricity is used to move water, that is a lot of money and energy each year! Secondly, having most of our water come from one source a long way away means that our supply is quite fragile. An earthquake or other disaster could quickly cut off this supply. Third, so many places draw water from the Colorado River, complicated and outdated water laws are creating tension between regions. Lastly, taking away such a significant amount of water from the river means that animals, plants and people down the river don't get any water. Other than a few wet years, according to University of Arizona,the Colorado River has not flowed to the Gulf of California since 1960.
For one, 20% of out entries state's electricity is used to move water, that is a lot of money and energy each year! Secondly, having most of our water come from one source a long way away means that our supply is quite fragile. An earthquake or other disaster could quickly cut off this supply. Third, so many places draw water from the Colorado River, complicated and outdated water laws are creating tension between regions. Lastly, taking away such a significant amount of water from the river means that animals, plants and people down the river don't get any water. Other than a few wet years, according to University of Arizona,the Colorado River has not flowed to the Gulf of California since 1960.
It is clear that relying on such a high percentage of foreign water is not sustainable in the long run. Through water conservation, water recycling and rainwater harvesting, both active and passive (described in upcoming blog), we can become FAR more self sufficient as a county.
Like our page on Facebook to be notified when new blog posts come out!
Click link here to be directed to our Facebook page.
Like our page on Facebook to be notified when new blog posts come out!
Click link here to be directed to our Facebook page.
RSS Feed