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Chapter 9: Reliability Through Diversification
community leaders. Why, they demanded, did
the Water Authority depend on a single suppli-
er for virtually all of its water? What kind of
investment strategy relies 95 percent on a
single source of supply, they asked. The rally-
ing cry boiled down to a few words that still
resonate: “Never again! No more water
shortages!”
While the concept of
diversification crystal-
lized quickly, the
actual strategy was
complicated and
ti
me-consuming to
put in place.
I
mported supply
options other than
the Colorado River
and the State Water
Project – say, the
Columbia River or
Alaskan icebergs –
were just too far away to be practical. Worse
still, access to existing water sources was
becoming more restricted. Environmental laws
made managing water supplies more complex,
while water pollution, swelling demand for
water across the Southwest, droughts and
interstate legal battles added stress.
As these challenges mounted, the Water
Authority carefully charted a new course for
meeting the region’s water needs through a
variety of sources – the water supply equivalent
of a diversified stock portfolio. The multi-
pronged approach relied on billions of dollars
of regional investment. Progress also required
rethinking the way
things had al
ways been
done and challenging
notions of
what is pos-
sible. The blueprint –
which continues to
evolve two decades
later – includes long-
term water transfers,
conservation, water
recycling, groundwater
development and sea-
water desalination.
Over ti
me, that strategy
radically reduced San
Diego County’s reliance on any single water
supply. The Water Authority tri
mmed depend-
ence on MWD to about 45 percent by 2012,
and by 2020 the region is expected to get just
30 percent of its water from MWD.
MetropolitanWater
District of Southern
California
95%
Local Supplies
5%
San Diego CountyWater Authority
Water Supply Diversification 1991
In 1991, the Water Authority received 95% of its water
from a single source
Increasing demands across the southwest for Colorado
River water was one of
many factors leading to supply
diversification