As the Colorado Ebbs, Desal Must Flow

There has been quite a bit of news lately regarding the Colorado River: its over-subscription, its shrinking reservoirs, the possible battles to come.  I’ve been tweeting about a lot of that at @pvowell and @WeWork4Water:

The drying of the West; ""...a bumper harvest of lawsuits is approaching." #water  http://ow.ly/ntjVF

CA's goal should be no #water from CO River, filling the gap with desal. Other CO River states should support that. http://ow.ly/nmus2

What Seven States Can Agree to Do: Deal-Making on the #CO River. Great review of river policy & challenges. #water http://ow.ly/n6mEG

California has taken great advantage of the fact that the other basin states have historically under-utilized their allocations, using that “extra” water to satisfy an ever thirstier Southern California.  Now that those states are growing and utilizing their share of the river, Californiahas to cut back.  But with the coming realities of climate change making even California’s rightful share of the river unlikely to be deliverable, Californiawill have to come to grips with the fact that they can not rely on this source of supply in the future.  If Californiawere to completely forgo its Colorado River rights, allowing that water, or what there is of it, to be distributed to the other basin states, it would be a great help in alleviating their water shortage issues.  Of course, Californiawould have to come up with alternate supplies, or their equivalent. Continued and expanded conservation will have to be a part of that, but by itself it will not be, in fact can not be enough.  Continued further imports from Northern Californiaare also unreliable, and at best will need to be kept at current levels, not expanded.  But with a large and bountiful ocean at its door, Californiamust pursue desalination as a large part of its water supply.  Energy requirements for desalination continue to drop, approaching the same requirements to pump water from the Colorado.  Advances in technology for seawater intake are alleviating the issues of ingress and impingement that those intakes can cause; and similar advances in brine discharge can all but eliminate any ecological problems with that process.  By agreeing to reduce Colorado River usage through the development of desalination, other River basin states could also be brought into agreements to help pay for the development of the resource.  But first, California must come to grips with the fact that desalination will have to be a part of our water resources in the future and create a regulatory and legal environment that allows the permitting of these facilities without the endless lawsuits that currently plague every attempt to build a desalination plant.  As Californiawater professionals, everyone that works for water in this state must support the development of a robust desalination program to safe-guard our water future.