North’s Water Called Key to State’s Drought

A representative from the Metropolitan Water District told Orange County business people Thursday that better management of existing water supplies is the key to weathering the state’s four-year drought.

Brad Hiltscher, a government representative for the water district, said that various factors have added to the water complications the state is experiencing.

“There isn’t a water problem, only a water-transportation problem,” Hiltscher told members of the Industrial Environmental Coalition of Orange County, a group of professional people concerned with health and environmental procedures and regulations. “Getting the water from Northern California to Southern California is where our attention is focused.”

Hiltscher said that additional facilities are needed to enhance the State Water Project’s ability to deliver increasing water supplies.

The State Water Project, which the Metropolitan Water District is a part of, provides water to more than 17 million Californians living in the northern, central and southern portions of the state.

During the IEOCC’s monthly meeting at the Anaheim Plaza Hotel, Hiltscher outlined the water district’s plans for improving water quality, water transportation and preservation of the environment.

Water “banking” and waste-water reclamation offer Southern California the greatest benefits, according to Hiltscher.

“Water banking is basically the storage of potential surplus or increase of water,” he said. “At this point, we have entered a interim agreement with Arvin-Edison Water Storage in Kern County to take advantage of potential surplus-water conditions.”

Once construction of storage facilities is complete, the Metropolitan Water District expects to store as much as 135,000 acre-feet of water annually during extremely wet periods. During dry periods, the program would make available up to 100,000 acre-feet for use by the Metropolitan Water District. An acre-foot of water is about 326,000 gallons, or enough to supply two families for a year.