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New Chairman Urges Diversification of Water Supplies

New Chairman Urges Diversification of Water Supplies

Government: Proposals Include Desalination Plants, Water-Efficient Housing

BY LEE ZION

Staff Writer

If there’s any lesson behind the federal government’s recent move to cut Southern California’s water supply by 200 billion gallons, it’s that San Diego must diversify its water resources.

The decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior, enacted after a complex statewide water deal collapsed Dec. 31, underscores the need for San Diego to safeguard its water future. The investment in capital, time, and new technology is critical to sustained regional growth, said Bernie Rhinerson, the new chairman of the San Diego County Water Authority board.

Rhinerson, 52, became the board chairman Jan. 1. He sat down with the San Diego Business Journal recently to talk about the challenges facing the region, and potential solutions.

San Diego, one of the largest urban areas in California, lies “at the end of the pipelines” that bring water into the region. That makes the region vulnerable, he said.

Rhinerson cited the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California as an example. San Diego buys most of its water from MWD, which must cut water supplies to all of its members in a time of drought, he said.

However, due to the formula MWD uses to calculate water cutbacks, San Diego officials worry that they’ll be hit disproportionately, based on what they pay into the system. Water authority officials have challenged the MWD’s formula in court; that case is still pending, Rhinerson said.

Visionary Projects?

To protect the region from such disruptions to its water supply, San Diego will have to develop new projects and find new sources of water.

One such future project is sea water desalination. A plant is already in the planning stages, in Carlsbad, and Rhinerson is “excited” about the prospect.

“I think 100 years from now, when the residents of this region are getting a third to a half of their water from the ocean, and they see efficient ‘desal’ plants at three or four locations along our coastline, they will look back and be grateful that we’re making it such a high priority today,” he said.

The Carlsbad facility, scheduled to be completed by 2007, will convert 50 million gallons of sea water a day into fresh water for residential and industrial use. That’s about 9 percent of the current annual needs of the entire county, Rhinerson said.

The plant can later be doubled in size, and a similar plant could later be built in South Bay. Together, these plants could supply the region with about a quarter of its water needs, he said.

“Desal has decreased in cost. In the ’90s, it was over $1,000 an acre-foot , $1,500 an acre-foot,” Rhinerson said. “Now the water authority is under way with the planning of a plant where the cost of desal will be $794 an acre-foot.”

That still tops the cost of $526 an acre-foot for the water purchased from the MWD, but the water authority will receive a subsidy from MWD for desalination. That subsidy amounts to $250 for each acre-foot of water produced over the next 20 years, Rhinerson said.

Also, as the technology improves, the cost of desalination will continue to decrease. Meanwhile, the cost of importing water , including transporting it over mountains to get here , will only increase over time, he said.

Desalination is also more reliable for the increased population and industrial demand San Diego can expect in the next few decades, Rhinerson said.

“That sets San Diego County on a real positive path for the future water reliability. Because it gives us new water, and the ocean , it’s there,” he said.

Other sources of water include the San Diego Formation, a groundwater supply underneath San Diego, National City, and Chula Vista. San Diego, a member agency of the County Water Authority, is looking into the formation’s potential for both water supply and water storage, Rhinerson said.

Innovative Programs

Another important investment will be to continue its ongoing conservation efforts and reduce local water usage. Rhinerson said San Diego uses about the same amount of water it consumed in 1991 , despite a 15 percent increase in population and more high-tech companies settling here.

“We’ve achieved that because the average use per person has decreased,” he said. “San Diego has really led the state. Other areas, where we’re trying to buy water, are concerned about, ‘Well, San Diego is just wasting water to put it on golf courses,’ That really isn’t the case.”

Several programs have assisted the region in reducing its water use. San Diego’s program to install low-flow toilets in homes, though mocked at first, was a huge success, saving the region a total of 60 million gallons of water, he said.

On a larger scale, many industries are now using reclaimed water. Toppan Electronics was the first company in San Diego to take advantage of treated sewage water for industrial uses in May 2000. Since then, many other high-tech companies have come on board, saving the region 6 billion gallons in fiscal 2002, Rhinerson said.

Future plans include new ways to save water for gardening and landscaping, as well as promoting water-efficient washing machines. The washing machine program will be similar to the introduction of low-flow toilets a few years back, he said.

Rhinerson conceded people will resist the new machines because of the cost, and the fact the machines may require the use of special laundry detergent. However, the water authority will provide rebates to help cover the cost, and eventually, mass production will lower the price of the next generation of washing machines, he said.

Still other programs focus on working with builders and developers to construct more water-efficient housing, Rhinerson said.

“There’s a great opportunity over the next decade for a concerted effort to focus on saving,” he said. “The water authority supports such programs.”

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