Water is essential to daily life, but few people realize the journey it takes before reaching their taps. In Burbank. Every drop of drinking water originates from hundreds of miles away, making Burbank uniquely dependent on external suppliers. The cost of importing this water continues to rise, and it is important to understand the factors driving these costs and how they may impact our community in the future. Unlike other cities that can tap into local rivers or lakes, Burbank’s drinking water is entirely purchased from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). This imported water originates from two sources – water from the San Francisco Bay Delta, which includes runoff from melting snow in the Northern Sierra Nevada mountains, and the Colorado River.
–Written by Richard Wilson, assistant general manager, water systems at Burbank Water and Power.