By Rob Davis at voiceofsandiego.org:
Lake Mead, the vital Colorado River reservoir outside Las Vegas, hit a record low Sunday, The New York Times reports. The reservoir is the lowest it’s been since being filled in the late 1930s, just 39 percent full.
Millions of people — San Diegans included — rely on the reservoir’s water.
So what does its drop mean here?
In the short term, nothing. It doesn’t have any impact on San Diego’s supply even though we relied on the river for 61 percent of our water in 2009. But it does send a bad signal that the river supplying the Southwest’s lifeblood is continuing to face pressure — a pressure that scientists say is growing as the climate warms.
If the lake continues dropping, it will first cause problems for cities in Arizona and Nevada before San Diego. Those states hold lower-priority rights to Colorado River water than California does.
Right now, Lake Mead is filled to 1,083 feet above sea level. If it drops to 1,075 feet, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will declare a shortage and implement cuts the seven Colorado River states agreed to in 2007. Those cuts hit Arizona and Nevada — not California.
The cuts would stay in place until the reservoir hits 1,025 feet. Then the shortage is renegotiated and becomes an issue that could affect California.
The Bureau of Reclamation’s current plan for the coming year calls for an increase of up to 40 percent in the amount of water delivered to Lake Mead from Lake Powell, the big reservoir upstream, a step that could help equalize the amount of water in each reservoir and possibly avoid triggering the shortage declaration.
Please Please outlaw Lawns !!!
I am tied of watering and mowing the stupid thing Just to make the HOA happy.
OK Yea I know get a fake one, but still.
There is no shortage of water. There may be a shortage of cheap water, but there is such a thing as an ocean and a desalinization plant. This is the type of thing that proper capitalism (charging the full costs to build such a plant to water users if needed, with a discount for lower income folks) would fix things.
Get a fake one – I saw one that looked rather interesting at Home Depot (I think) last week. I’m thinking seriously about taking the plunge.
DDDDDEEEEEE-SAAALLLLL
Nothing says “conserve” like higher water prices.
Another 20 years, and Portland will have SD’s climate (and we’ve got the water).
chrisanthemama
portland, or
I’m with Geo & Local on this one. It’s laughable to talk about water shortages in a city boasting some of the best waterfront property in the world.
Another fact not frequenctly mentioned is that even today over 80% of our water in California is used for farming, much of which is not actually economically viable without other government subsidies beyond just dirt cheap water.
Now, most of that water would go to LA, not San Diego, but still overall as a state the homeowner uses a fraction of the water but he pays the vast majority of the cost.
There are also “desert” farms in AZ that use a lot of water and probably are not viable either…
The book “Cadillac Desert” is a good read on this topic.
I hope everyone that says “DESAL!!” realizes they are also saying “please raise my water rates by a factor of three!” If you want to, that’s fine by me, but people bitch and moan about a 20% water rate hike. What’s it going to be like for a 3x raise?
San Diego buys water from the Imperial Irrigation District for about $350 per acre-foot. (Farmers there pay $20 per acre foot, but hey, who’s counting.) Desal water from the new Carlsbad plant is supposed to have a subsidized price to San Diego of just under $1000 per acre foot. That’s subsidized by the MWA. So next time you say desal, please keep in mind you are also saying “triple my water bill”.
Desalinated water is not that bad for households. It’s orders of magnitude too expensive for agriculture.
$1000/acre-foot = $1000/43,560 cubit feet
= $1000/325,851.429 US gallons
~ $1/328 gallons.
It’s also ~$2.30 per 100 cubic feet.
I’m currently paying ~$3.40 per 100 cubic feet for usage above 600 cubic feet per month.
Great stat – $20/acre for farmers and $350 for people (and other businesses).
Incredible.
I pay four figure water bills during the summer for may largish lot, but my friend in Fallbrook who grows 400+ avocado trees pays low threes because he is considered ag…