\u201cWe\u2019ve all collectively taken a step back and have realized we can\u2019t continue to put a fence around ourselves,\u201d said Dan Denham, general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority. \u201cWe can\u2019t go at this alone any longer.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not yet clear how interstate transfers of water could occur \u2014 likely by Arizona or other states paying San Diego for its Colorado River water rights. Such transfers have never occurred and could require new federal laws or regulations.<\/p>\n
Central Arizona water managers have been discussing the prospects of a deal for San Diego\u2019s water, but have made no decisions, said DeEtte Person, a spokeswoman for the Central Arizona Project, the system that transports Colorado River water to most of that state\u2019s populous areas.<\/p>\n
John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, told The Wall Street Journal<\/a> this week he plans to sign \u201can exploratory agreement\u201d with San Diego County. Mr. Entsminger could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n Utah, meanwhile, has been exploring investments in desalination, including through a potential partnership with California<\/a> that would involve trading California\u2019s Colorado River water rights.<\/p>\n In recent weeks, the San Diego County authority has announced deals to sell water to two utilities in Riverside County, Calif., a sprawling and rapidly developing region that borders the Colorado River.<\/p>\n \u201cRegional cooperation is essential for a stable water future,\u201d Stephen J. Corona, board president for the Eastern Municipal Water District in Riverside County, said in a statement last week.<\/p>\n Mr. Denham said he is hoping for additional partnerships. The San Diego County utility approved an agreement in February with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, a broader consortium of water systems that includes the San Diego system, that featured plans to include utilities in Nevada and Arizona in the collaboration.<\/p>\n In addition to desalination, some states are considering recycling wastewater. In 2021, Arizona and Nevada each invested $6 million in a water recycling initiative that is in the final stages. The project, Pure Water Southern California, could eventually convert enough sewage into purified drinking water to supply 500,000 homes.<\/p>\n As the San Diego County Water Authority pursues water deals, it is also looking to recoup billions in costs it has passed along to its ratepayers, Mr. Denham said. In recent years, the utility has imposed annual water rate increases of as much as 14 percent onto customers, but selling water to other states could allow it to keep future increases on par with inflation, he said.<\/p>\n But Mr. Denham said he also sees a responsibility to help address a long-simmering water crisis that is once again intensifying given the meager winter snowpack across the West that quickly melted during a record-hot March.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really underscored the urgency of coming up with a solution to not only figure things out over the next water year, but longer term,\u201d Mr. Denham said.<\/p>\n Water officials said finalizing any transfers across state lines would be complicated, and could require action by Congress as well as a consensus that has been hard to reach among Western states struggling to secure volatile water supplies.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will take agreement among all of the stakeholders \u2014 including those whose water rights may be adversely affected,\u201d Joseph Vanderhorst, a retired water law expert, told members of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California\u2019s board this week.<\/p>\n There had been hopes that a framework to guide interstate water transfers would be included in a plan guiding use of Colorado River water, after decades-old rules expired last year. New rules will have to reflect changes to the Southwestern climate that have reduced the Colorado River\u2019s flow by nearly 20 percent<\/a> over the past quarter century.<\/p>\n
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