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Guide to the San Diego County Water Authority Collection
MS 302
MS 302
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Title: San Diego County Water Authority Collection
Identifier/Call Number: MS 302
Contributing Institution:
San Diego History Center Document Collection
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
49.5 Linear feet
(69 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1909-2010
Abstract: This collection contains administrative papers, reports, and other reference materials from the library and offices of the
San Diego County Water Authority.
creator:
San Diego County Water Authority .
Biographical / Historical Notes
The San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) was created June 9, 1944 by an act of the State Legislature. It was established
as a public agency to administer the county’s Colorado River water rights. SDCWA officials work in Sacramento and Washington
D.C. to monitor legislation with potential impact for the San Diego County region. The Water Authority promotes water conservation
and reclamation programs, youth education, and other projects to improve the quality and reliability of local water supplies.
By the early 2000s, the Water Authority included 24 member agencies around the county.
The history of water in San Diego is one of cyclical droughts and floods. The region has a 10-11 year flood cycle, but flood
years are occasionally skipped, so immense amounts of water must be stored to last through dry periods. The water needs of
the City of San Diego have often conflicted with the needs of local farmers and other city districts. In 1922, the Colorado
River Compact was formed and included California as one of the seven states entitled to an allocation of the Colorado River.
The Metropolitan Water District was formed in 1927 to develop the entitlement for cities throughout Southern California. Boulder
Dam was completed in 1935 and the All-American Canal in 1940, but legal conflicts continued with Arizona over the size of
the allocation.
World War II and the arrival of the military in San Diego nearly doubled the local population and led to threats of water
shortages. The newly formed SDCWA worked with the Navy and the US Bureau of Reclamation to construct the San Jacinto-San Vicente
Aqueduct, though later there would be conflict with the government over the appropriateness of Navy financing. Water from
the Colorado River finally arrived in the San Vicente Reservoir in November 1947. A second pipeline was completed in 1952.
In 1959, SDCWA officials including Board Chairman, Fred A. Heilbron and General Counsel, William H. Jennings joined a statewide
effort to pass the Burns-Porter Act. This act authorized the State Water Project, which stretches 700 miles from Lake Oroville
to Lake Perris via Feather River, the Sacramento River, and several other byways before joining the Metropolitan Water District
system. The SDCWA eventually added three more pipelines to draw water from the Colorado River and Northern California via
the State Water Project.
This collection contains administrative papers, reports, and other reference materials from the library and offices of the
San Diego County Water Authority.
Administrative papers for the San Diego County Water Authority include annual reports from 1946-1998, strategic planning documents,
public opinion surveys, workshop materials, brochures, and 26 scrapbooks dating from the 1930s. There are also several scrapbooks
on specific topics in later series. Administrative papers for the Metropolitan Water District contain most issues of the Aqueduct
News newsletter from 1934-1973 detailing progress with Colorado River water, as well as a scrapbook of clippings, mailers,
pamphlets, and citizens’ committee material. Additionally there is some material from the City of San Diego, including the
1931 city charter, yearbooks from 1945-1947, and brochures about the city as a tourist destination.
The collection contains numerous reports, legislative documents, and other materials on water development projects involving
San Diego, California, the Colorado River, and Mexico. Records on the San Diego Aqueduct include pre-planning recommendations,
design and construction, the impact of World War II and controversial aid from the Navy, and later expansion projects. Records
on San Diego water development include histories of water in the region, a sourcebook on applying preferential rights, water
supplies and usage throughout the county, planning in urban areas, reclamation studies, quality control, and flood control.
Additionally, there are several reports on individual water projects such as Lake Hodges, the Bonsall Reservoir, the San Luis
Reservoir, and the Pamo Valley Reservoir, as well as assorted photographs of dam sites.
Records on California water development contain numerous state bulletins, reports, project updates, and other literature on
the water conditions and supplies of the state, as well as the design and implementation of the State Water Plan and State
Water Project, including specific aspects such as the Feather River Project. This series also includes region-specific water
resource development plans for basin/drainage regions, the Central Valley, and the Southwest region. Additionally, there are
reports on drought in the mid-1970s, water conservation, quality control, and projected future developments.
Records on the Colorado River include histories, reports and recommendations, government proceedings from various court cases,
and information on the Boulder Canyon Project, water quality control, the Citizens’ Committee for Colorado River Water, and
various pamphlets and brochures. Records on Mexico are primarily arguments for or against water treaties and how they affect
supply between California and Mexico.
Finally, subject files contain books, reports, published government proceedings, and brochures on topics such as climate,
economics, history, hydroelectric power, irrigation, soil preservation, water conservation, education, legal cases, volunteer
water monitoring, sewage reclamation, and water rights conflicts.
This collection is arranged into nine series.
Series I: San Diego County Water Authority
Series II: Metropolitan Water District
Series III: City of San Diego
Series IV: San Diego Aqueduct
Series V: San Diego Water Development
Series VI: California Water Development
Series VII: Colorado River
Series VIII: Water Treaties with Mexico
Series IX: Subject Files
Series I-VIII are arranged by subject. Series IX is arranged alphabetically.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
The majority of the collection is in good condition, except for the scrapbooks. The scrapbooks are at various stages of deterioration.
They remain with their original covers, but many have deconstructed bindings (e.g. rope removed from stab bindings). All have
been interleaved and oversize scrapbooks have been placed in individual boxes.
San Diego Aqueduct photograph scrapbook pages (boxes 13-14) are made of degrading paper. Photographs that have already come
unglued have been placed in archival sleeves. Those remaining are fixed to the pages by a single spot of glue apiece. The
remainder of the photographs could potentially become detached allowing them to be removed and sleeved without damaging the
originals and with captions intact.
Three folded maps from a bulletin rating California soils (box 36 folder 8) may require future encapsulation.
San Diego County Water Authority Collection, MS 302, San Diego History Center Document Collection, San Diego, CA.
This collection is open for research.
The San Diego History Center (SDHC) holds the copyright to any unpublished materials. SDHC Library regulations do apply.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession number: 2013.22.
Collection processed by Samantha Mills on September 9, 2014.
This collection was processed as part of a grant project supported by the San Diego County Water Authority with generous funding
from the Hans and Margaret Doe Foundation.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
American Water Works Association .
Boulder Canyon Project .
California State Water Project .
Central Arizona Project Aqueduct (Ariz.) .
Central Valley Project (Calif.) .
Citizens’ Committee for Colorado River Water .
Colorado River Storage Project (U.S.) .
Colorado River Water Users’ Association .
Colorado-Big Thompson Project (U.S.) .
Feather River Project (Calif.) .
Fryingpan-Arkansas Project (U.S.) .
Heilbron, Fred A.
Jennings, William H.
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Calif.) .
San Diego County Committee for Vital Water .
United States. Navy.
Upper Colorado River Commission .
All-American Canal (Calif.)
Aqueducts
Bonsall Reservoir
Brochures
City planning
Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.)
Colorado River Watershed (Colo.-Mexico)
Conference proceedings
Correspondence
Droughts
Education -- Standards
Flood control
Flood dams and reservoirs
Hodges, Lake (Calif.)
Hoover Dam (Ariz. and Nev.)
Hydroelectric power plants
Hydrology
International obligations
Legislation
Los Angeles (Calif.)
Mexico
Municipal water supply
Newsletters
Pamo Valley Reservoir
Peripheral Canal
Reservoir sedimentation
San Diego (Calif.)
San Diego Aqueduct
San Luis Reservoir (Calif.)
San Pasqual Valley (Calif.)
Scrapbooks
Soil conservation
State water planning
Water conservation
Water development, supply, and management
Water districts
Water quality management
Water reuse
Water rights
Water supply -- California -- San Diego County
Water use