The Answer to the Drought is to Increase the Supply

By Shawn Dewane

Clean, affordable and abundant water is fundamental to our quality of life and key to the economic development of our community.

Increasing the Basin Pumping Percentage - The amount of water that is available to retail customers from the groundwater basin. Imported water costs about $1,200 per acre foot whereas ground water costs about $275 per acre foot. This saving directly impacts consumer pocketbooks by reducing water supply costs. My advocacy led to an increase in the basin pumping percentage to 72% from 62% saving the ratepayers of Orange County millions of dollars.

Ocean Desalination -Seawater desalination has been discussed as a potential large scale water source since the days of Aristotle. This technology has proven itself effective over the past 20 years in applications like naval and cruise ships and in areas of the world where fresh water is scarce like Australia, Algeria, Israel and other countries. I have been a vocal advocate of Ocean Desalination. The Huntington Beach Desalination plant will supply 8% of Orange County's water needs when completed. I wrote an op/ed article that was published in the Orange County Register about ocean desalination that you can read here - http://www.ocregister.com/articles/water-224363-poseidon-project.html.