Serious Water Issues Lie Ahead in San Diego and Will affect Home Values
October 19th, 2007 categories: San Diego Real Estate
One of the surest ways to be able to buy something for less is to increase its available supply. In this case, I am not talking water (although the water supply is involved in this discussion). I am talking home values.
San Diego imports 85% of its water supply. With the advent of curtailing the amount of water we can import by way of a recent court order, San Diego, even with an accelerated conservation program will not have enough water to meet the needs of our current population.
Some believe the problem will just go away if we just ignore it. That thinking is exactly what got us into this mess in the first place. Who knows, maybe it will rain some day?
The greater problem of not having water reserves is now going to create some first-class nightmares. I don’t think many of us are prepared for it. Conserving after the supply is gone is a little like drawing a bank account to zero and then thinking using the ATM less will somehow replenish it.
It is long past time to address this issue and every day that passes increases the size of the obstacle that needs to be dealt with. Home values are currently dropping with the slower market as it adjusts to past lending abuses. Home values will continue to drop even lower especially when adequate water supplies are not guaranteed. People will not want to buy homes and live where there is no assured water available or its supply is so curtailed, you will feel like you are in the middle of the desert with only a canteen. And it will be half full at best! If you have been at the desert on a scorching 115 degree day, you will understand this all to well.
The quality of life we have come to associate with living in San Diego, may be in peril if longer-term water supply solutions are not found. A drop in home values initially will be the least of the worry.
Many are clamoring for conservation now as a remedy to the anticipated shortage. Conservation is only a small part of the water issue. The supply side of the problem is critical and must to be solved first. If the regulators want to regulate it, environmentalists want to protect it, utilities want to supply it, consumers want to consume it, owners want to sell it and farmers want to grow things with it,€¦… then unless the city and county leaders are soon willing to deal with the long-term supply of it, all these people are going to be without it.
When that happens and you see your property values plummet downward, maybe people will finally rally to get the problem solved. A lot of grief and lost value can be spared by dealing with the issue now while some sort of a solution remains viable.
William – that is a real factor on real estate and I hope the current home fires don’t impact those you know – wishing you lots of rain sooooooon! – Cyndee Haydon