Environment

Groundwater Could Limit Future Growth In San Diego's Backcountry

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published February 8, 2011 at 3:00 AM PST

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

San Diego County Supervisors will consider their plan for future growth tomorrow. Their existing plan was drawn up 30 years ago.

San Diego County Supervisors consider their plan for future growth in non-urban areas tomorrow. Their existing plan was drawn up 30 years ago. This will be the third public hearing on the issue.

There are conflicting opinions on how much development can happen in the rural areas where water pipes don’t reach. About 40,000 San Diego residents across 1,800 square miles depend on groundwater.

A study by geologist Jim Bennett shows the growth allowed under the existing General Plan would threaten more than a quarter of the region’s 86 groundwater basins. He said people would have to dig much deeper wells to survive. The cost of a typical well that is deepened to 1,000 feet could be over $10,000, he said.

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County staff have recommended less growth in areas without piped water. It’s part of a plan to move future growth west, where new residents would be supplied by the County Water Authority.

Other water experts say the county’s groundwater analysis is overly conservative and should not be used to restrict development.

Supervisors are grappling with a number of options for how to rezone the back country. They will hear 27 reports on issues like fire protection, property rights and climate change.

The hearing will start at 9 a.m. in the County Administration Building on Pacific Highway.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.