The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS took a long look at San Diego’s water shortage issues last night. It may be familiar context, but it’s an interesting examination of the problems we could face next year.
Here’s one interesting exchange from the transcript:
(Correspondent) Spencer Michels: This is a scene that has driven Northern Californians crazy for about half a century and fueled California’s fabled water wars, a lush, green golf course in arid Southern California which gets much of its water from the north.
Maureen Stapleton, San Diego County Water Authority: Yes, we do have golf courses. Yes, we do have swimming pools. … It’s part of the quality of life, but it doesn’t mean that we’re being inefficient or wasteful of water. Many of the golf courses you drove by today are using recycled water.
Spencer Michels: San Diego County, with three million people and growing fast, imports 80 percent of its water. As a result of the fires, they’ve asked people to limit their water use in cleanup. In order to conserve water, agencies are recycling about 5 percent of sewer water for use on lawns and gardens, and they’re experimenting with desalination plants.