Basic HTML Version
iv
I
magine a place that basks in sunshine and warmth and has everything needed to support diverse wildlife
and a small population of people. Wild grasses full of grain cover the valleys and hillsides. Fragrances
of wild poppies, sage and roses waft in the air. Native grapes and berries hang from vines. Morning
breezes come from the ocean in the West, and an evening breeze blows from the mountains in the East.
The temperature is never too hot or too cold; there is little worry about food or shelter. Streams flow from
natural artesian springs; willow trees and sycamores line the banks of rivers that flow into a beautiful pro-
tected harbor where fish abound. Although the rivers may dry up in the rain-free summer, the people have
learned how to store enough water for drinking, bathing and watering their small agricultural plots.
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This utopian scene may seem like a far off land compared to the San Diego region today, with its boom-
ing population, dense development and farms supported by massive works that i
mport water from distant
mountains and watersheds. It is not, though; it is the San Diego region as it was just over 300 years ago.
This book tells a story of change, from early ti
mes when the sparse inhabitants managed the natural
water
resources without substantially changing the landscape, to a more recent ti
me marked by the building of
an elaborate network of dams, reservoirs and pipelines that support
more than 3.1 million people and a
$188 billion economy. The story has two parts: the first tells how the early residents lived with their exist-
ing local resources; the second, which begins in the 1920s, tells the story of how the region became
al
most entirely dependent on i
mported water and then i
mplemented a long-term strategy to create a
more diversified and reliable water supply portfolio.
We hope this brief history of
water development will interest you and inspire you to be a careful guardian
of the San Diego region’s most basic and essential resource: water.
“The story of Man
began at a spring ...
It will end when
the spring runs dry.”
Fred A. Heilbron,
as Vice President of
Southern California
Mountain Water Company and later
Chairman of the San Diego County Water Authority
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”
Preface