1. San Diego Water Resources

2. Legal distribution of the CR water (million AF/yr)
Upper Basin: 7.5
Lower Basin: 8.5
Arizona: 3.8
Nevada: 0.3
Calif.:4.4
MWD: 0.55
Mexico: 1.5
TOTAL: 17.5
Ave. Annual Flow: ~13.5

3. PLUMBING OF THE COLORADO RIVER
From: Marson (1987)
“Western Water Made Simple”

4. CALIFORNIA & COLORADO RIVER AQUEDUCTS
444 miles long
2.7 billion gallons/day.
Energy :44,423 homes
242 miles long
1 billion gallon/day
energy :
14,168 homes

5. Imperial Valley Irrigation District (IID)

6. Imperial Irrigation District
Agriculture uses ~98% of the region’s water supply (2% for municipal use)
Largest irrigation project in the Western Hemisphere
Diverts & delivers ~3.1 million acre feet of Colorado River water to Imperial Valley
9 Cities and ~500,000 acres of agricultural lands
Gravity flow drainage system
10 Reservoirs

9. Problem:
MWD has used over 1.2 million AF/year for many years (0.7 over legal allocation).
Maximum capacity of the CR Aqueduct
2000: Babbitt brokered”4.4 plan”

10. IID-MWD-SDCWA Water Transfer Agreements
All American Canal System
2.6 Million AF
1998: Water transfer of 200,000 AF per year for San Diego by 2012
Problem: Salton Sea

11. SDCWA (FY 2001) Total: 673,698 AF Local: 82,248 AF (12%)
Surface water (62%)
Groundwater & Brackish groundwater desalination (23%)
Recycled (15%)
Imported: 591,441 AF (88%)
Colorado River (64%)
State Water Project (24%) (

12. SDCWA (FY 2005) Total: 635,784 AF (94% of 2001)
Local: 71,797 AF (11%)
Surface water (63%)
Groundwater & Brackish groundwater desalination (19%)
Recycled (18%)
Imported: 563,987 AF (89%)
Colorado River (56%)
State Water Project (44%) (

13. SDCWA current and projected use

17. Population increase in San Diego

18. Future? Imported water is tapped out Increase local resources
Promote conservation
Improve infrastructure
RECLAIM WATER!!