Water San Diego County

The San Diego County water board voted Thursday to file a lawsuit to overturn a half-century-old regulation that gives Los Angeles the right, during a drought, to deprive San Diego County of more than half of its water supply. After griping about the issue since 1951, the San Diego County agency has decided that it cannot plan its future with such uncertainty about water.

The San Diego County water board voted Thursday to file a lawsuit to overturn a half-century-old regulation that gives Los Angeles the right, during a drought, to deprive San Diego County of more than half of its water supply. After griping about the issue since 1951, the San Diego County agency has decided that it cannot plan its future with such uncertainty about water.

Avocado farmers here are cutting down their water-starved trees and children play on matted brown grass, but this city has plans to turn things green again. As the drought drags on, local officials are pushing ahead with a $60-million upgrade of the city's water treatment plant, hoping to create San Diego County's largest water reclamation project.

After months of deadlock and recrimination, water officials from San Diego County and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California are close to striking a deal that could shape the water future of California, the state water director told legislators Monday.

Orange County residents collectively use only about one-third as much water in their homes as people living in Los Angeles County-384,000 acre-feet versus 1.1 million. But the Orange County average use per residence is 21% higher than in Los Angeles. In 1990, Orange County households has an average consumption rate of 142,981 gallons per year according to Metropolitan Water District of Southern California projections; in Los Angeles County the comparable figure was 117,864.

Begin with the adage about one man seeing the glass as half-full and another seeing it half-empty. That's a start--but only a start--toward understanding how San Diego County and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California can survey the same set of water facts and arrive at diametrically opposite conclusions.

Several hundred thousand residents in southeast San Diego County were admonished Saturday to reduce water consumption by at least half--and in some neighborhoods to brace for intermittent water stoppages--because of a break in one of the five main aqueducts that bring imported water here.

While his Escondido neighbors are fretting over 20% water cutbacks and penalties for overuse and wondering which parts of their landscaping to let turn brown, Don Marnella is smugly watering his pampered lawn and his stately, 40-year-old avocado trees to his heart's content. A few blocks away, Bruce Harwood is doing the same. In Fallbrook, so is Robert Gonsett.

Feuding water officials from San Diego County and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California were brought together for six hours Tuesday in the office of Gov. Pete Wilson to air their grievances and explain their clashing points of view. Sean Walsh, the governor's spokesman, said more meetings will be scheduled in an effort to resolve a dispute that is blocking consummation of a historic water transfer agreement.

Water service to 400,000 residents of south and east San Diego County was restored to normal Tuesday after 11 days of severe restrictions prompted by the rupture of a major water pipeline. Voluntary restrictions on outdoor watering were continued Tuesday evening and early today to avoid a large drop in water pressure in the new pipeline, which carries 140 million gallons a day to the Padre Dam, Helix, Riverview, Lakeside and Otay water districts.

Feuding water officials from San Diego County and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California were brought together for six hours Tuesday in the office of Gov. Pete Wilson to air their grievances and explain their clashing points of view. Sean Walsh, the governor's spokesman, said more meetings will be scheduled in an effort to resolve a dispute that is blocking consummation of a historic water transfer agreement.

Begin with the adage about one man seeing the glass as half-full and another seeing it half-empty. That's a start--but only a start--toward understanding how San Diego County and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California can survey the same set of water facts and arrive at diametrically opposite conclusions.

Negotiators for San Diego and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California have failed to reach an agreement needed for historic water sales between San Diego and Imperial Valley, officials said Sunday.

In a move that could influence state and federal policy for decades, San Diego County and the Imperial Valley announced a tentative multibillion-dollar deal Thursday to shift water from some farms to thirsty urban and suburban areas. The deal could provide the county with enough water for up to 2.4 million people for less money than it has been paying the mighty Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

The heirs of the power brokers who made Southern California are fighting among themselves--and again the fight is about water, and the money and power it brings. The battle centers on San Diego County's determined quest to buy water directly from the farmers in the water-rich Imperial Valley, a move that officials in both areas say is long overdue and mutually beneficial. But standing in the way is the mighty Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Avocado farmers here are cutting down their water-starved trees and children play on matted brown grass, but this city has plans to turn things green again. As the drought drags on, local officials are pushing ahead with a $60-million upgrade of the city's water treatment plant, hoping to create San Diego County's largest water reclamation project.

One day after her city was ordered to cut its water use, San Diego Mayor Maureen O'Connor vowed Friday to fight the restrictions, insisting that her own voluntary program is working and warning that mandatory cutbacks could slow business and cost jobs. Besides, the mayor said at a news conference, it's raining, so "we're possibly at the end of the drought." She said God "doesn't want people laid off, nor do I."

In a move that could influence state and federal policy for decades, San Diego County and the Imperial Valley announced a tentative multibillion-dollar deal Thursday to shift water from some farms to thirsty urban and suburban areas. The deal could provide the county with enough water for up to 2.4 million people for less money than it has been paying the mighty Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Steve White trudged sadly through the avocado grove he planted near here almost 15 years ago and heard a rasping crow overhead, an irritating speck in the blinding afternoon sky. "They only circle over a dead animal," White said, setting his jaw. "Maybe they sense death here." There is death here, whole orchards of it. Thousands of trees are sagging helplessly, their leaves wilted and leathery, their branches limp.