mdunbar's blog

With an inordinately dry spring, a lot of people are starting to get worried about where their water will come from this summer and in the future. Rationing has started for East Bay Municipal Utilities District customers and those who rely on the giant Metropolitan Water District are facing restrictions. Meanwhile, officials from the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency told the San Jose Mercury News that they were worried that by as soon as 2010 they won't have enough water to serve any new customers -- homes or businesses. 

What's that got to do with us? BAWSCA is made up of 27 cities that buy water from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. The SFPUC gets most of its water out of Tuolumne River. Hearing projections of shortages is one reason so many people worry that the Bay Area users will try to take more water out of the river.

Fortunately, BAWSCA members are talking more about conservation than they are about building another pipe from Yosemite to San Francisco. There's a good understanding that climate change and the lack of storage will change the way water works in California. Let's hope that understanding can be converted into positive action and not a raid on the river.