Our view: Drying up of delta supply must prompt conservation and market-pricing

If you think your water rates are too high, just wait. If you think you've been asked to make do with less water before, well, there too you're in for an unpleasant surprise. Late Friday evening in a Sacramento court, a federal judge decided a tiny fish needs the water we depend on even more than we do.

The dramatic ruling to reduce the water pumped through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta may or may not save the endangered delta smelt from extinction, but it almost certainly will mean a deep cut to Southern California's already evaporating water supplies.

Local water agencies haven't exactly been asleep at the switch, but there's far more they can do to encourage conservation and efficiency. With water supplies drying up in every direction, it's almost certain we'll soon be paying more for less water. But we'd feel a lot better about it if government was tapping the power of market forces to nourish innovation and punish water wasters across the state.

We're in the midst of a terrible drought, even after the storms that flashed through inland North County the last two weekends. Even worse is the eight-year drought along the Colorado River watershed, one of our two major supplies of imported water. And the Sierra snowpack, the other major water source for Southern California, is dwindling due to rising temperatures - when it's not being stopped cold in federal court.

San Diego County farmers who buy cheaper, agricultural water from the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District are preparing for a 30 percent cut in their supplies come Jan. 1, provided the coming months don't bring a miracle monsoon.

At least since the five-year drought that ended in 1992, the San Diego County Water Authority and other local agencies have, to their credit, been working to diversify our water portfolio.

To increase our storage capacity, the county Water Authority has pushed forward a $834 million project to add some 90,000 acre-feet of liquid insurance in case of an earthquake or other disaster. That Emergency Storage Project has brought the Olivenhain Dam and Reservoir to North County. It's also why crews are drilling a pipeline connecting that reservoir near Elfin Forest to Lake Hodges and drilling another pipeline to the San Vicente Reservoir in Lakeside.

To increase our water supply, the authority pulled off a historic, expensive deal with Imperial Irrigation District in 2003 to buy up to 65 million gallons of water otherwise destined to be dumped on desert farmland.

Before backing out last year, the Water Authority also supported Poseidon's proposal to squeeze the salt out of seawater off Carlsbad's coast. The California Coastal Commission is set to consider North County's desalination project this fall.

To encourage conservation, the Water Authority's biggest gains have come from encouraging customers to replace old toilets and shower heads with their low-flow, water-wise alternatives. These efforts and others have kept our demand roughly equivalent to that of 1991, despite a growing population.

The water agencies are flooding the airwaves with public service announcements urging people to take shorter showers, stop overwatering lawns and gardens, install sprinkler controllers, fix leaky irrigation systems and replace thirsty lawns with drought-tolerant plants.

The focus on landscaping isn't accidental: The county Water Authority estimates that we dump more than half of the water piped into our homes on our lawns, shrubs, gardens and trees. In a coastal desert during a drought, that's simply no longer acceptable.

There are dozens of good tips for conserving water supplies available on the Web. Please visit sites like www.bewaterwise.com, www.sdcwa.com, www.thegarden.org, www.laspilitas.com and www.treeoflifenursery.com for ideas.

Government has a big role to play in conservation, too, especially in ensuring that the price of our most precious commodity reflects its actual costs. That's why it should stop subsidizing water supplies to desert farming communities that grow thirsty crops. Our dry, inland valleys shouldn't be growing water-intensive crops like lettuce and alfalfa. A better, though endangered, model is that of North County's farmers, who largely switched to high-value crops to offset soaring water costs. Perhaps this latest crisis will also help Californians accept water meters that will help us sync supply, demand and cost.

One thing's for sure: The status quo is drifting away, and North County's future got a whole lot drier and more expensive after Friday's historic ruling.