Water water everywhere, where is it from?

The fight for clean water continues!  Keeping our oceans, rivers and beaches clean and freshwater coming out of our taps is a top priority.  To do so, it is important to keep track of who is doing what, so here is a little breakdown of where our water comes from.

Over 80% of our water in San Diego is imported.  It comes from the Colorado River and the State Water Project (far Northern California).  There is a little bit in the ground that can be used, and reservoirs that are available.  Here is how it gets here:

Its transient nature aside, water is owned by many people before and after it gets to our homes and businesses.  The Metropolitan Water District in LA is the first owner of the water imported from the Colorado River and State Water Project (SWP).  They then sell the water to agencies, such as the San Diego County Water Authority.  The San Diego County Water Authority has 24 member agencies broken into water districts.  The Water Authority sells water to the Water Agencies that are located in our communities.  The Water Agencies then sell the water to government agencies, businesses and homeowners.  We drink and use this water, and whatever gets flushed or goes down the drain then goes to the Wastewater Agencies.  The Wastewater Agencies then treat the water to various levels and either dump the treated wastewater into the ocean, or the more progressive wastewater agencies such as the San Elijo Joint Powers Authority and Leucadia Wastewater District, will highly treat the water and sell the highly treated water for irrigation use (purple pipe).

This is where you come into play.  We need YOU, friends and neighbors, to insist that the Water Agencies and Water Districts work together to treat our wastewater in the same manner that the Water Districts in Fountain Valley, CA, Fairfax, VA and El Paso, TX do: for DRINKING.  Below is a link to the returning board members of the San Diego County Water Authority.  Write, email or call them and demand that we STOP dumping our wastewater into the oceans, and that we join the handful of agencies that are international leaders in making the best use of water resources!