Southern California’s Water Supply Threatened By Next Major Quake

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Southern California’s Water Supply Threatened By Next Major Quake

The California Aqueduct carries water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Southern California. It is one of four aqueducts in the region that glide across the San Andreas Fault.
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Southern California gets the vast majority of its water from four aqueducts that flow from the north, but all of them cross the San Andreas Fault.

That means millions of people are just one major earthquake away from drying out for a year or more.

“It’s a really concerning issue for the city of Los Angeles,” says Craig Davis, an engineer with the LA Department of Water and Power, which oversees the LA aqueduct.

Research shows that a magnitude 7.8 quake on the San Andreas Fault could sever all four aqueducts at once, cutting off more than 70 percent of the water sustaining Southern California.

“Which is, depending on what counties you look at … somewhere in the order of 18 and 22 million people,” Davis says. “That’s a very large number.”

Studies show it would take a year or more to rebuild the waterways, and during that time, the state’s economy would lose roughly $53 billion. That’s bad news for Southern California companies such as Disney, Mattel and DirecTV.

But there’s no way to bring water from the north without crossing this fault. So engineers like Davis are looking for other solutions…..more here

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Southern California’s Water Supply Threatened By Next Major Quake