![]() These "successes" paved the way for one of the largest water conveyance systems – and thus one of the largest economies – in the world. Owen's Lake was drained to grow Los Angeles, the Hetch Hetchy was dammed to feed San Francisco. Visit for some ways to conserve.Most of California's population live hundreds of miles from their source of fresh water – but not by accident. When the LA Aqueduct was completed in 1913, it delivered 4 times the amount of water that Los Angeles needed at the time. We need to start learning to conserve and live within our limits. This is not a sustainable path – there are very few other places we can take water from. They have refused to recognize its limits, preferring instead to rely on massive water relocation projects to meet their needs. The humans have always had a bit of a problem with water supply in Southern California. This has the effect of reducing the water transferred to Southern California – good for the fish, but inconvenient for the humans. Concern for the species’ survival helped push through the Delta Plan, new legislation from November 2009 which puts conservation of the Delta on par with providing more reliable water supply to Southern California. It’s a small fish, easily held in the palm of the hand, and its susceptibility to pollution makes it a good water quality indicator. One in particular has served as the poster child for the recent Delta debates – the Delta smelt. The Delta is currently overdrawn, menacing the seven endangered and threatened fish species that call it home. The water ultimately comes from the Sacramento/San Joaquin River Delta. The State Water Project has its own set of problems as a water source. The 7.5 million acre-foot “total” that can be taken without harm to the river was measured during a wet year, and so when the states use their allocated amount of water, they use more than the river can spare. Problems have arisen since the original apportionment due to both simple squabbling over who should have the bigger slice of cake, and more problematically, because the cake isn’t actually as big as it was thought to be when it was apportioned. This is important, because that assigned number for each state stays the same no matter how much water is actually in the river. Each basin subsequently divided its portion among its member states, assigning each state a number of acre-feet for its entitlement. The Compact divides the usable flow of the Colorado River – 7.5 million acre-feet (an acre flooded a foot deep) – between the Upper Basin (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), and the Lower Basin (Arizona, California, and Nevada). ![]() The Colorado River, source of half of San Diego County’s water, was first allocated in 1922 in the Colorado River Compact. (Local supply includes surface water, or lakes and streams groundwater recycled water, also known as ‘purple pipe’ and conservation.) The other 80% must be imported. ![]() San Diego’s limited amount of rainfall, in addition to other local sources, only accounts for about 20% of its water supply. Image Credit San Diego County Water Authority, Sources of San Diego County’s Water Supply ![]()
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