San Diego, Once Water-Scarce, Now Has Enough to Sell

As Western states brace for a hot, dry summer and reservoirs run shallow from a lack of winter snow, some are turning to help from San Diego. It's a city once beset by water problems of its own.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, San Diego was struck by a severe drought. The city was forced to import water from other regions. Its citizens were also placed on tight water limits. After the drought, the city spent billions to protect against future water shortages.

“The cry was ‘never again,’” Bob Yamada told The Wall Street Journal. He's the former head of water resources at the San Diego County Water Authority.

Among the city’s safeguards was the building of North America’s largest desalination plant. The plant harvests salt water from the Carlsbad beach. Then it processes the water to remove the salt. The method makes millions of gallons of fresh water people can use. People living in the city also worked to slash personal water use. That allowed the city to reduce its water imports from 95% to 10%. Each person's water usage dropped by 50%. It resulted in a large surplus of water. The city is now willing to “sell” it.

“It’s not a silver bullet but (many) pieces of silver buckshot,” John Entsminger told the Journal. He's general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. His region is seeking a deal with San Diego. It wants to trade funding for the desalination plant for some of the city’s rights to water from the Colorado River. 

For now, trading water rights for cash is how San Diego profits from its valuable excess water. In the future, the city hopes to create technology in the form of pipelines or pods that transport water. This will allow it to ship water to arid regions that need it most. 

Reflect: How would your daily life change if your community suddenly had to limit how much water people could use?

Gif of dripping water from GIPHY.