By Alastair Bland, CalMatters

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters 

Photo: drought-stricken Lake Mead on the Colorado River in August 2022. Photo by Christopher Clark / U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

May 28, 2023 (San Diego) - After nearly a year of intense negotiations, California, Nevada and Arizona reached a historic agreement last Monday to use less water from the overdrafted Colorado River over the next three years.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell, April 2022 levels, courtesy Bureau of Reclamation

June 17, 2022 (San Diego) – The U.S. Senate held a hearing this week on dire water shortages in the West, including critically low water shortages at the Colorado River, which provides water to cities across the Southwest including San Diego.  As Senators sought solutions including acceleration of infrastructure projects, one bright spot came in testimony from San Diego County Water Authority’s general manager Sandra L. Kerl, who illustrated how our region’s investment in innovation, conservation and water reclamation have provided sustainable water solutions in a model that could be emulated in other areas.

East County News Service

February 10, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – The Metropolitan Water District, which supplies San Diego County with water, warned Monday that it may cut water deliveries by 5 to 10 percent or even more this summer.  The decision will be made in April, after assessing how much water the District gets from the State Water Project, the Colorado River and other supply sources.

By Miriam Raftery

January 25, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – For the first time ever, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has ordered that supplies of water from the Colorado River and Glen Canyon Dam be slashed.

The Colorado River is the most important water source for the Southwest-- and it accounts for about 60 percent of San Diego County’s water supply.  It’s under increasing pressure from a growing population in southwestern cities  amid extended  dry conditions.

Pollution of earth and water is driving indigenous peoples from their homelands

By Miriam Raftery

April 27, 2013 (San Diego)--Around the world, including here in the U.S.,  native people are losing lands they have occupied for countless generations.  The earth and water that sustained life in their communities is being destroyed –once-mighty rivers and wetlands reduced to barren, parched or even contaminated land.  The story is the same from tribes along the Colorado River to those deep in the Amazon, from the deserts of Southern California to the jungles of Mexico, from the coal fields of Appalachia to the copper mining pits of Arizona to indigenous people’s lands in Canada threatened by the Keystone Pipeline.

The culprit?  Growing demand for energy and water. 

Now, native people are speaking out.  They hope to educate the public to conserve precious resources, sharing knowledge of the heart-breaking price being paid by people who have been given no choice—and whose very cultural identity centers around the lands and waters being lost.

The “Water Talks” Meeting at the Ronald Reagan Community Center is being held to address challenges facing the Colorado River

April 30, 2012 (El Cajon) – The “Water Talks” Meeting will be held at the Ronald Reagan Community Center, 195 E. Douglas Ave., El Cajon on May 1 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.  The San Diego County Water Authority and San Diego County residents will discuss the Water Authority’s efforts to ensure a reliable supply of water from the Colorado River, which is the single largest supplier of water to residents of the county.