What's the West Basin MWD All About, Anyhow?

By Richard A. Schwartz

Read All About Water and West Basin MWD!

The West Basin Municipal Water District is a wholesaler of water to local water companies. The water comes from five sources: Underground wells, imports from northern California, imports from the eastern Sierra, and imports from the Colorado River. The West Basin MWD conducts surveillance of the water quality and blends water to meet all health requirements for domestic consumption. The fifth source is recycled effluent from the Los Angeles Hyperion plant; this water is for industrial and irrigation use only and does not enter the domestic supply. To make the most of our existing water resources, West Basin MWD conducts conservation and water eduction projects.

A Brief History of Water

Water policy in California has undergone several modifications since our incorporation into the United States in 1850. In 1850, the interests of the gold miners dominated water policy. The miners were not friendly to the environment: they ruined the rivers of northern California with watershed destruction, silt, mercury, and cyanide. Some of those rivers are still sterile 60 years after the end of gold mining. (But they got some of the gold out.) After the mines were exhausted and ranching became the dominant way of life, the interests of agriculture dominated water policy. Eventually, California became urbanized, and the monied needs of the big cities and heavy industry controlled water policy. Thus Los Angeles was able to drain the previously fertile Owens Valley dry. However, new legal doctrines of the Supreme Court are pushing us into a period of greater environmental concern; we can no longer drain Mono Lake and Lake Owens dry, and we cannot take so much from the Sacramento River that seawater is sucked into the delta. Growing population in Las Vegas and Phoenix is reducing our share of Colorado River water, so we must find new sources. Recyled water from the Los Angeles Hyperion plant is a new supply that we can use. Even if it does not enter the domestic supply, its use for irrigation and industry will reduce our need for imported water.