Analysis of Command and Control Versus Tradable Renewable Energy Credits:

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Water Supply in California
Sustainability, Planning and the Future
Adam Teepe ESM 275 December 1, 2003
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Outline
Outline

• History of Water Supply in CA
• South Coast Water Supply
• Current Situation
• Projected Situation
• Planning
• Orange County, Riverside County and San Diego
  Association of Goverments
• Newhall Ranch, L.A. County
• Solutions

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Background
A Different Attitude
1925 conversation between William Mulholland and
Horace Albright (Superintendent of Yosemite NP)
History CA Water Use Planning Newhall Ranch, L.A.
County Solutions
WM Youre from the Park Service, arent
you? HA Yes, I am. Why do you ask? WM you
have a beautiful park up north Yosemite
Parkwell, Im going to tell you what Id do with
your park. Id send some photographers up there
and have them spend a year taking pictures of the
park, then Id go in there and build a dam from
one side of that valley to the other and stop the
expletive waste!
Cadillac Desert, p. 92
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Background
Major CA Water Projects
History California Water Planning Newhall Ranch,
L.A. County Solutions
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L.A. Basin
South Coast Water Supply
History California Water Planning Newhall Ranch,
L.A. County Solutions
Los Angeles Aqueduct 360 taf
California Aqueduct 1,571 taf
Colorado River Aqueduct 1,193 taf
California Water Plan, 1998
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California RPS
CA Water Supply
History California Water Planning Newhall Ranch,
L.A. County Solutions
Recycled and Desalinated Supplies lt1
Surface Water Supplies 84
Groundwater Supplies 16
California Water Plan, 1998
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Background
CA Water Use

• California Water Use
• 11 Urban
• 43 Agriculture
• 46 Environmental Uses

Year 2000
History California Water Planning Newhall Ranch,
L.A. County Solutions

• California Water Use
• 15 Urban
• 39 Agriculture
• 46 Environmental Uses

Year 2020
California Water Plan, 1998
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California RPS
Future Water Supply
By 2010, given the estimated growth in state
population to 40 million people, State Water
Officials estimate that California will have a 4
to 6 million acre foot deficit in water supply.
History California Water Planning Newhall Ranch,
L.A. County Solutions
- Association of CA Water Agencies, 10/02
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Background
Planning The OC

• Orange County General Plan
• Advocates Water Conservation Measures
• No mention of slowing down growth in Growth
  Management Element

History California Water Planning Newhall Ranch,
L.A. County Solutions

Orange County General Plan
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Background
Planning The RC

• Riverside County General Plan
• Need to develop Groundwater Management Plan
• Balance needs of agriculture, residential and
  industrial uses.
• No mention of slowing down growth.

History California Water Planning Newhall Ranch,
L.A. County Solutions
Riverside County General Plan
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Background
Planning SANDAG
History California Water Planning Newhall Ranch,
L.A. County Solutions

• San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG)
• Build Desalination plant by 2020 (if cost
  effective)
• Not a whole lot of substance
• No mention of controlling growth in Water Element
  of Growth Management Strategy

San Diego Regional Comprehensive Plan
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Background
Newhall Ranch

• Huge Development in L.A. County
• gt20,000 units, 70,000 people
• Recently Approved, but held up due to CEQA Water
  Supply Issues

History California Water Planning Newhall Ranch,
L.A. County Solutions
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California RPS
Corbett and Corbett

• If they could do it over again
• Grey Water System
• Retrofit homes with low-flow showers/toilets.

History California Water Planning Newhall Ranch,
L.A. County Solutions

• What the future should hold
• Water Conservation
• Native Landscaping
• Reduce amount of pavement (improved water
  quality)
• Efficient use of energy
• Long term sustainability
• Local communities should control their own water
  --
• But, should be in the context of regional
  planning, so that water use is limited to what is
  sustainable.

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California RPS
The Future
History California Water Planning Newhall Ranch,
L.A. County Solutions
The Colorado Aqueduct flowing through the Mojave
Desert
The future of water use should be defined by what
is locally available and sustainable. Sending
water 400 miles through the hottest, driest
portion of the state cannot be seen as a solution.
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California RPS
The Future
a goal of many westerners and of their federal
archangels, the Bureau of Reclamation and the
Corps of Engineers, has long been to double,
triple, quadruple the amount of desert that has
been civilized and farmed, and now these same
people say that the future of a hungry world
depends on it, even if it means importing water
from as far away as Alaska. What they seem not
to understand is how difficult it will be just to
hang on to the beachhead they have made. Such a
surfeit of ambition stems, of course, from the
remarkable success we have had in reclaiming the
American desert. But the same could have been
said about any number of desert civilizations
throughout history Assyria, Carthage,
Mesopotamia the Inca, the Aztec, the
Hohokambefore they collapsed.
History California Water Planning Newhall Ranch,
L.A. County Solutions
- Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert
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California RPS
Thank You!
History California Water Planning Newhall Ranch,
L.A. County Solutions
Any Questions?