Milton N. Burgess P.E.

San Diego Experience

Where Did The Water Go?

An Important Subject in Serial Format
By Milton N. Burgess P.E.
Posted on Nov 01 2007
Last updated Jan 03 2008

[Editor's Note: In the fashion of Dickens release of chapters of "The Pickwick Papers" in separate editions of the The Monthly Magazine in England, we present a tale about water and San Diego from Milton N. Burgess, Professional Engineer, Master Plumber and builder of waster water treatment plants in both Tucson, Arizona and Truckee, Nevada (Lake Tahoe). This is the first of six parts.]

January 5, 2107 – 6:00 A.M.

Scott awoke in his Spokane apartment to the recorded sound of running water coming from his alarm clock. “Pretty close, I guess”, he thought, “to the real thing”. As he busied himself with his morning routine he thought of the stories of open streams and wild rushing water. Must have been wonderful. Now that clear, colorless liquid was captured and covered as soon as it fell to earth.

Today he would call his hydrologist colleague Barry in Denver to discuss the details for a trip around the West to visit the ghost towns caused by the Great Drought of 2069. They had talked about it for years, ever since graduation.

The plan was to meet in El Centro, go west from there up the coast as far as San Francisco, then home. He and Barry would join a man and wife team of photographers from National Geographic who were doing a piece on the ghost towns. National Geo was going to cover the cost of the trip for Scott and Barry in return for technical data for the narrative to be published with the photos.

To prepare for the trip, Scott and Barry had been researching over a hundred years of archives, back to the late 1900’s. Some of the data had been covered in their hydrology courses in college ten years ago, but much of the history had only recently been made available. “National Security” had been the reason for the cover-up.

February 1, 2107 – 3:45 P.M. – El Centro

“There they are” shouted Barry, as he spotted the dust cloud moving nearer. The logo on the National Geo hovercraft was not visible, but they had been in visu-com contact with them for the past hour.

George and Judy shut down their engines, donned their breathing headgear and pack and stepped out of their cold fusion powered hovercraft(1) SUV. After exchanging greetings, they set up camp using the HEPA filtered air system for inflating the living quarters. Once inside the three spacious rooms, they removed their outerwear gear and sat down to make plans.

“The weather forecast is for only light winds for the next few days, so we should be okay”, said Barry. Dust storms in the area had mixed fine heavy metal particles from an ancient geothermal plant north of El Centro with the blowing sand, making the area unlivable for the last 40 years. “This new anti-grav propulsion system helps keep the dust down, but it’s still a problem in places like this.”

“Scott, I’ve looked over some of the research material you sent, but didn’t have a chance to really digest it”, George said. “Any trouble crossing the border?”

“No, it was okay. The Mexican border guards were interested in the National Geo vehicle, but no trouble with papers.” El Centro was included in a land swap thirty years ago, when the U.S./Mexican border was moved north.

“Maybe”, Scott continued, “I can give you the Reader’s Digest version until we get a little further into it”. He spoke softly into the chip on his wrist. The screen on a console lit up with the words “Water Data – El Centro” and a very friendly female voice began to speak. “I’m going to go over some stuff you probably already know, but to be sure I don’t miss some foundational material, I’ll cover it anyway.”

A map appeared on the screen, with historical images depicting the passing events.

“They called it the “Perfect Storm” back in 2069, naming it after a massive weather systems event in the late 1900’s. That’s the year the drought began. Then a 7.5 earthquake occurred the following year in central California. These two events coupled with the exponential population growth over the first half of the 21st century combined to create what we now call the ‘Great Drought’.”

She continued, “After studying the hydrological history of the region, now we know that the results of the 2069 Perfect Storm could have been avoided had the politicians and the engineers joined forces to make water independence public policy leading to alternative water sources and recycling systems. “The Imperial Valley together with the Central Valley of California used to supply 10% of the fresh produce consumed in the United States -- no more. El Centro became a ghost town when the water was gone. People moved north and south to the natural waterways and tributaries of North America.

“She continued, a few miles north of here was the Salton Sea. It’s gone, just a massive white desert now. It was created in 1905 when the Colorado River surged through a man-made canal and the entire flow of the river was diverted into the area known as the “Salton Sink”. It took two years to redirect the flow back to its normal course”.(2)

“The sea continued to increase in salinity since the only inflow was agricultural drainage water.” “The reason I am mentioning this is that there was a ‘Quantification Settlement Agreement’ (QSA) which was the key component of the California Colorado River Water Use Plan – the State’s plan to reduce its use of Colorado River water. It had a deadline set for execution by the end of 2002. It was finally completed in October 2003. Part of the QSA was restoration of the Salton Sea .(3)

“California was using 5.2 million acre-feet at that time, which was cut to its entitlement of 4.4 million acre-feet. The state experienced a 700.000 acre-foot reduction in its water supply. That represented a cut of 35 percent of the water that MWD supplied through its member agencies to 17 million people in Southern California.”

“They did borrow from Peter (Imperial Valley) to pay Paul (San Diego County Water Authority) and lined the All-American and Coachella Canals with concrete to reduce water loss plus get voluntary agricultural water transfers, but in the end it was like the old familiar “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”

“In 2007, U. S. District Court Judge Oliver W. Wanger announced a series of severe restrictions on the operations of the massive pumps that supply water from the Sacramento-San Juaquin Delta to 25 million Californians (about two-thirds of all Californians), including 3 million residents of San Diego County, to protect threatened fish in the Bay-Delta.” The cut was estimated at 30%.(4)

Rising in pitch, her voice became somber and continued, “But even that didn’t get the politicians and the water managers off their collective rear-ends. All they did was to institute some Draconian conservation measures, much like the reaction to electrical power shortage in 2001. Only this time, no “water generation” plants could be quickly constructed. The few desalinization plants up and running were literally -- a little play on words here – a drop in the bucket.”

“You see, a century ago the phrase ‘Toilet to Tap’ was formulated by then State Senator Steve Peace, an outspoken opponent of recycling sewage. ‘If you think you can get away with taking the effluent of the rich and selling it to the poor as drinking water, it’s dead on arrival’ (12/9/97 San Diego Union). “San Diego Councilwoman Judy McCarty, in the same era, is quoted as saying San Diegans were already drinking “the effluent of the affluent, the poor and the sick”, which is discharged into the Colorado River before San Diego uses it for drinking.”

“The civil engineers, in an editorial titled ‘A costly boondogle’, have been included among the villains in this drama, along with ‘sewage bureaucrats’…”who want to build this glorious (recycling) technological plant.”

“Seems incredible now, but over 100 years ago the technology was at a sufficient technical level to produce high quality potable water from tertiary-treated sewage when used in conjunction with reservoir augmentation. We know more now and with the new materials available we can do a better job at less cost per HCF, but they could have become water independent, even then.”

“Eventually, the cities of San Diego and Los Angeles demanded all of the water, and the Imperial Valley literally dried up despite their 1920’s Colorado River Agreement.

“As you probably can see around you, the wind and weather have flattened many of the structures and the sand dunes cover part of the old city.”.” --“Makes for great photos, but it’s really unsettling”, Barry said from his chair talking over the narration.. Returning to a gentle narrative voice, the female computer voice paused briefly asking, “Do you want me to go on?” Raising his arm slightly and speaking at his wrist, Scott answered, “That’s all for now…close the file.” The screen faded to blue.

February 1, 2107 – 10:05 P.M. – El Centro

“It’s late and we have a lot to do tomorrow. I’ll make sure our sub-atomic drinking water generator has plenty of reserve. I dropped off our spent fuel cells at the Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada on the way down, so have some extra storage space in my SUV for relics we may find.” Okay, Scott said to the other three, “Tomorrow, let’s visit some of the remnants of this area. Most of the canals are hard to find, but our maps and the AGPS (Advanced Global Positioning Systems) will help. One word of caution--I talked with the ex-FEWA chief in San Diego. He cautioned us to be sure to wear radiation detectors when we are near the canals. The silt is still radioactive“

(next – Chaper Twp: Yuma, the largest reverse osmosis treatment plant in the world)

About the author: Milt Burgess is a Registered Professional Mechanical Engineer in several states and a licensed California contractor with experience in all phases of mechanical construction and consulting spanning several decades.
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