“With the Colorado River in crisis, Arizona and Nevada are turning to an unconventional lifeline: the ocean water off California’s golden beaches.
Both desert states are pursuing a deal with the San Diego County Water Authority to tap millions of gallons of fresh water produced by a Carlsbad ocean-desalination plant—the largest in North America—to help offset their reliance on the collapsing Colorado River…
No water is literally shipped; rather, the parties would trade access rights to water sources. States would fund much of the estimated 56,000 acre-feet of water that the desalination plant produces annually in exchange for San Diego’s share of the Colorado River. The agreement could supply enough water for some 500,000 people…
San Diego became a water broker by necessity. During a five-year drought that ended in 1992, the San Diego County Water Authority lost a third of its allocation, which came almost entirely from imported shipments…
Over the next three decades, the authority invested billions to achieve water independence. It raised the height of a dam to double its storage, built the desalination plant and acquired rights to a trove of conserved Colorado River water from a desert farming district. In doing so, San Diego slashed its water imports from 95% to 10%.”
From Wall Street Journal.
