Where does San Diego's water come from?

Описание: Still firmly gripped by the worst drought in our state’s history, San Diego cannot lose the progress we made in meeting conservation targets. Rather than viewing this drought as a temporary emergency – something to be survived until things return to “normal” – we must treat it as a transformative catalyst that pushes us to seek a more sustainable relationship with water.

A more sustainable water future can be achieved by prioritizing and incentivizing conservation; embracing San Diego’s unique natural beauty through locally appropriate landscapes; and, supporting multi-benefit projects that reduce polluted discharges while producing new clean drinking water. Not coincidentally, multi-benefit solutions also minimize the use of and dependence on imported water and often reduce the costs to upgrade, add to, and maintain existing infrastructure.

We must consider, fundamentally, how we’ll change our relationship with water going forward. We cannot, from an environmental or an economic standpoint, build costly desalination plants to continue feeding growth while maintaining lush tropical landscapes and ornamental lawns. The drought is a catalyst for change, but that change shouldn’t be a slew of new water acquisition projects, but instead a spark that ignites a new conservation ethic built upon smart and responsible water use, capture, and recycling. Our way of life depends on it, and the Constitution of California requires it.