San Diego’s Water Trade Offers Relief for Colorado River States

A decade-old treatment plant in San Diego County, California, might leave more water in the Colorado River, benefiting states struggling with severe shortages.

Representatives from various water authorities toasted an agreement at the Carlsbad Desalination Plant in California. They celebrated a potential deal allowing San Diego to sell some of its Colorado River water rights to Arizona and Nevada. This arrangement could help inland states address the growing gap between water supply and demand.

Thanks to a desalination plant opened a decade ago, the San Diego County Water Authority now has a water surplus. While the water supply wouldn’t physically move inland, the authority plans to use less from the river, making more available for others.

This agreement marks the first large-scale water trade among states with claims on the Colorado River. Officials consider such initiatives crucial due to shortages threatening reservoirs and dams. These water systems are vital for providing water to 40 million people and vast farmland in the West. Previous laws and court rulings did not offer a framework for such exchanges.

“The urgency is real,” stated Scott Cameron, acting director of the Bureau of Reclamation, a federal agency overseeing water supplies in the West. “Today we are signing a short document that represents a potential great leap forward for the water security of the people of the Southwest.”

The utility and desert states need to finalize details on how much water San Diego County can offer and the price Arizona and Nevada will pay. This task involves attorneys examining over 100 years of legal precedent and water managers negotiating as resources become scarcer.

Dan Denham, the San Diego utility’s general manager, emphasized, “I think with the momentum we have and the situation on the river, it has to happen now — it can’t take more than a year. Hydrology is not going to wait for us.”