From Whittier Daily News – Article by Steve Scauzillo
First it was desalinating ocean water. Then it was recycling sewage water. Now water districts desperate to diversify their supplies in the face of ever-longer droughts are pursuing water purchases from hundreds of miles away as insurance against shortages.
With water imported from Northern California, via the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, or the Colorado River in ever-shorter supply, the Metropolitan Water District is no longer able to guarantee imported water for replenishing local groundwater basins.
That means the days of overpumping in the San Gabriel Valley and Whittier area may be over.
Add in unusual events like the 10-day shutdown of the Weymouth Plant in La Verne earlier this year, and some water districts are worried. They’ve turned to water brokers, looking to hook them up with water sellers hawking complicated deals to move the liquid gold south for safekeeping before the next drought comes along.
“You can’t just rely on Met to supply the water you need anymore. They can’t provide that the way they used to,” explained Ken Manning, who heads the Main San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority based in West Covina, which manages the cleanup of the San Gabriel Basin’s polluted pockets.
As it turns out, there are rice farmers and ranchers with water rights that are willing to sell them to the highest bidder, said water consultant Adan Ortega.
