Water in California

Overview

California — its over 37 million residents, critical ecosystems and 1.9 trillion-dollar economy — depends on a reliable and high-quality water supply. By 2030, California’s population is projected to reach 48.1 million, according to the California Department of Finance, placing great demands on current water supplies and infrastructure.

In 2011 Governor Jerry Brown declared an end to California’s multi-year drought after an exceptionally wet year in 2010. Many Southern California water agencies lifted restrictions on watering and eased some mandatory conservation measures.

However, Southern California remains overly dependent on water from Northern California and is vulnerable to water restrictions in the future. Southern California gets two-thirds of its water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta, the Colorado River, and the Owens Valley and Mono Basin. The State Water Project and Colorado River Aqueduct are challenged by regulatory restrictions, aging infrastructure, and varying delivery capabilities in wet and dry years. As a result, these water sources can be unreliable, especially in drought years.

Consumers and businesses in Southern California need reliable access to water. Having additional local water sources could help take some of the demand pressure off Northern California sources and ecosystems.

“Either we get a lot of rain or we get no rain. What we need to do to get past the boom and bust cycle is develop a local supply resource like Cadiz.”
John Schatz, General Manager, Santa Margarita Water District

Water Facts

An acre-foot of water is approximately 326,000 gallons or enough to cover a football field a foot deep in water. An acre-foot provides for the needs of two typical Southern California families in and around their homes for one year.

More than 70% of California’s average annual precipitation – nearly 200 million acre-feet – falls north of San Francisco. However, nearly 80% of the state’s demand for water comes from Central and Southern California.

Southern and Central California imports the majority of its water from a combination of federal, state and local water projects.

The State Water Project, operated by the Department of Water Resources can deliver over 4 million acre-feet of water to Southern California annually. Deliveries can vary significantly year to year, from approximately 20% to 80% of requested supplies (see http://www.water.ca.gov/swpao/deliveries.cfm. )

The federal Central Valley Project, operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, delivers about 7 million acre-feet annually, primarily for agricultural uses in the Central Valley.

The Colorado River Aqueduct owned and operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California can deliver up to 1.25 million acre-feet of Colorado River water each year to the over 19 million people living in a six-county area of Southern California. The CRA has operated under capacity for most years between 1980 – 2010.