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The MetropolitJ. ~~;t District of Southern California Surrounding communities eyed the Colorado River activity of Los Angeles with interest and sought to participate, Accordingly, in 1928, The Metropolimn \Vater District of Southern California was incorpo- rated under state Jaw, with au- thority to build the proposed aqueduct from thc Colorado, Thirteen cities including Los An- geles "vere the original members. Now, only four decades later, the district contains areas in six southern California counties and includes more than one hundred cities, Population is about ten million, Completed in 1941, the Colorado River Aqueduct is used to full cnpacity, diverting more than one million acre-feet a year, or one billion gallons a day, from the river for municipal, industrial and agricultural uses and for groundwater recharge, The 242 mile aqueduct was chosen by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the seven civil engineering wonders of the age. (/;-~) ~,'~;- r , /Ii/ '---"'--" !/~/ D 0 ,__ :/1; 00 :>=~J) @ Still the growth on the coastal plain of Southern California continues, So The Metropolitan Water Dis- trier has contracted with the state for more than t\vo million acre-feet of water a year to be brought south from northern California streams by the State Water Project now under construction, Delivery from this source will begin in 1971. In addition, the district is proceeding with plans for the construction of a nuclear-powered desalting plant on a man-made island in the Pacific Ocean off Orange County. As currently planned, construction will staft in the mid-1970s and the plant will produce 50 million gallons of desalted water daily not later than 1980. \Vater from the Bolsa Island plant will be pumped inland through a 25-mile-long pipeline to the district's Robert B. Diemer Filtration Plant where it will be blended with Colorado River water and Northern California water, Desalted Water cannot be looked upon as a replacement for present supplies, nor as the sole source for meeting future needs. Its cost appar- ently will always be relatively high, San Diego County Water Authority, The City of San Diego as early as 1926 foresaw the need of an imported water supply to supplement its natural sources, and filed with the state an applica- tion to approptiate water from Colorado River. In 1944 the city joined surrounding communities to form the San Diego County Water Amhority, which in 1946 by votc of the electors became a member of The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, The right of San Diego to Colorado River water was merged. with that of Metropolitan, Aqueducts branching from the Colorado River Aqueduct to deliver water to San Diego were con- structed in stages completed in 1947, 1954 and 1960, A contract for a second pipeline of the second San Diego Aqueduct was awarded in 1969, More than 85 percent of the total water supply of the Author- ity comes from Colorado River, ~-~ ~~O~R A~ I RIVER I ~50~ \[\; m :::::' I ~~ 8