Water Supply Still Tight Despite Recent Rains

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 9, 2009 at 11:39 AM PST

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

The region's water supply continues to be stretched despite recent rains. Because of tight supplies regional water managers have created a new online tool that tracks Southern California's stored wate

The region's water supply continues to be stretched despite recent rains. Because of tight supplies regional water managers have created a new online tool that tracks Southern California's stored water. KPBS Environmental Reporter Ed Joyce has more.

More than 50% of the water used in San Diego County comes through the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

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The District is worried about future supply because of cutbacks to protect endangered species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and continued drought in the Colorado River Basin.

Metropolitan's General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger says the district has created an online tool that tracks vital Southern California water reserve levels.

Kightlinger : We need people to do two things: Be aware of the issue, actively participate and we need conservation. So we're trying to find ways to graphically show people the precariousness of our water situation.

The tracking gauge has measurements from full to empty.

Kightlinger is worried because Metropolitan is on track to draw down up to 30-percent of the region's reserves to meet this year's supply needs.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

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Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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