Environment

Water Shortages May Not Be Temporary

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published June 3, 2009 at 3:00 AM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

Water officials say we need to re-think our use of the precious commodity. KPBS Environment Reporter Ed Joyce covered a water conservation summit in El Cajon Tuesday where the focus was on conservation and psychology.

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At least two themes were clear at the summit:

The current water crisis is a long-term problem that won't be going away anytime soon.

And outdoor watering accounts for nearly 60 percent of water use in California and that needs to be reduced.

Maureen Stapleton is the General Manager of the San Diego County Water Authority.

She says drought and regulatory restrictions could be the new norm for the region.

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"This could be our future next year or the year after that or what have you," Stapleton says. "We don't know. We are dependent on Mother Nature and the state water project for each and every year. And I could do a whole presentation on climate change implications and it gets to be quite concerning."

Stapleton says 1946 was the last year San Diego county met its needs without importing water.

But now the county imports more than 80 percent of the supply.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

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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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