Unheard of water cuts on the horizon
I knew that the news coming out of the State Water Project was going to be bad this coming November but if early reports of 85-90% cut are true, Los Angeles is going to be in a world of hurt.. and soon.
The news is bad because LA gets roughly 50% of its water from Metropolitan Water District and much of its supply comes from the SWP. Cutbacks to contractors of 85-90% could result in our city water service being cut back to 60-70% of historical norms to Los Angeles residents. Maybe less. My guess is that we may see water deliveries dropping to historic lows. Lower than 1977-78 levels and this time with an additional burden of a million more people.
The financial market crisis has hit building construction very hard and the result has been in a slowing of new housing construction but eventually that will turn around.
What will not turn around is our water supply. The Los Angeles Planning Department along with the Mayor and the City Council need to take this into account before they approve any further housing production from this day forward.
We are built-out when it comes to the water supply and its time to redefine what ‘normal’ is.
SCAG tells us we need housing for 26 million people in Southern California by 2035 but given the real cap on available water, that can’t happen unless we are reduced to 60 gallons a day per person.
An honest discussion has to be made on how far our region can be allowed to grow before limits are placed on it.
Anyone want to bet that we’ll skip phase II and III water restrictions and simply jump to phase IV or V this coming year?
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