PRZOOM - /newswire/ - Los Angeles, CA, United States, 2007/12/10 - About 60 percent of Caliornia's water comes from imported supplies and Southern California is now facing extreme water supply deficiencies according to the Southern California Leadership Council.

As Southern California prepared for a severe cutback in water deliveries, a coalition of business leaders and former governors urged leaders in Sacramento to promote "aggressive and immediate action" on water supply and infrastructure issues.

Under terms of a federal court decision handed down in August, the Department of Water Resources is cutting its initial allocation for water deliveries in 2008. The initial allocation was already expected to be lower because of dry conditions in the Sacramento and San Joaquin regions, whose rivers feed water from the Sierra Mountain Range to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delta and to State Water Project pumps.

"Approximately 60 percent of our water comes from imported supplies and Southern California is now facing extreme water supply deficiencies," the Southern California Leadership Council wrote to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders. "The combinations of the extended drought in the Colorado River Basin, the failure to implement timely and effective improvements in California's water supply infrastructure, and the recent court interference in the Bay-Delta operations have created an unprecedented crisis for the ongoing economic integrity of our State."
However, the council said "environmentally benign infrastructure improvements" can help improve the storage, capture and conveyance of water to Southern California.

"California business leaders are united in their shared perspective that this may be a once in a generational opportunity to resolve differences among stakeholders in the best solution to the Bay-Delta," the SCLC wrote.

The business group also said Southern Californians "must assume a fair share of the burden" in finding a long-term solution to the issue, and must add to and maximize the use of local resources -- and called for new ways to think about old problems.

As part of a solution, the SCLC suggested greater use of available groundwater resources and of the region's "relatively inexpensive storage capacity, a holdover from the area's past groundwater development.

"We have vast opportunities to treat and store more recycled water and to harvest desalinated water," the organization said. "We have an elaborate network of water conveyance pathways that already connect six southern California counties and 20 million people.”

Agency / Source: MAYO Communications

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