Report Highlights Significance of Water Reliability for San Diego County
May 07, 2019
A new report by the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation highlights the multi-billion-dollar economic impact of safe and reliable water supplies for the San Diego region.
“The Importance of Water Reliability to San Diego’s Economy” provides an overview of more than $2.4 billion invested by the San Diego County Water Authority in five major water reliability projects over the past two decades. Featured Water Authority projects generated $4.8 billion in total economic impact, supporting an average of 1,475 jobs annually over 20 years and creating more than $1.8 billion in local wages and salaries. The report also found that access to safe and reliable water supplies supports $482 million in total regional sales of goods and services daily.
“A reliable water supply and the infrastructure necessary to store, move, treat, and deliver it are essential to the development of an advanced economy,” the report said.
According to the EDC, the Water Authority has significantly “increased the diversification of its water supply portfolio to enhance reliability” in recent decades. The report also said the region is expecting hundreds of thousands of new residents by 2035 and that strategic management of water resources “will play an even more vital role in meeting the water needs of growing and thriving economy.”
Another section of the report highlighted employment opportunities in the region’s water and wastewater industry, which includes more than 2,800 jobs across a variety of occupations at the Water Authority and its 24 member agencies.