Can't California Find A Way To Use Spill Way Water, During Seasonal Flooding, To Alleviate Drought?

Me, "What is not addressed here is all the fall and spring runoff of the mountains around California that run into huge storm drains that carry it into the ocean. You may have seen them in the movies. They are shown in the Terminator movies and in some drag racing movies. They carry flash flood warnings to residences to keep kids out of them because it could be a clear day and yet a huge deluge of water can come flowing down. My proposal is why can't this water be collected and cleaned to be reused as drinking water? Some people will say that it is too costly, others will say that it happens so irregularly that its not worth the money spent on an idea like this. But, my thinking is, if these spillways are so huge and that much water comes flowing down from the mountains, there should be ways to store it, filter it, and use it. Water is water, no?"  

From, "High Demand, Low Supply: Colorado River Water Crisis Hits Across The West"

(The Colorado River is like a giant bank account for seven different states. Now it's running short.

For decades, the river has fed growing cities from Denver to Los Angeles. A lot of the produce in supermarkets across the country was grown with Colorado River water. But with climate change, and severe drought, the river is reaching a crisis point, and communities at each end of it are reacting very differently.

The problem is that Colorado's population will nearly double by 2050. Future residents will need more water. Denver Water CEO Jim Lochhead says more storage is part of the solution. It's also an insurance policy against future drought.

"From Denver Water's perspective, if we can't provide clean, reliable, sustainable water 100 years from now to our customers, we're not doing our job," Lochhead says.

Demand for Colorado River water is already stretched thin. So it may sound crazy that places like Colorado and Wyoming want to develop more water projects. Legally, that's something they are entitled to do.

Wyoming is studying whether to store more water from a Colorado River tributary. "We feel we have some room to grow, but we understand that growth comes with risk," says Pat Tyrrell, who oversees Wyoming's water rights.

Risk because in 10 or 20 years there may not be enough water to fill up expanded reservoirs. A 16-year drought has dramatically decreased water supply even as demand keeps growing. And climate change could make this picture worse.)