SAN DIEGO—It's incumbent upon the California business community to keep exploring the best ways to conserve water, add to the water supply and source water differently, San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp.'s president and CEO Mark Cafferty tells GlobeSt.com. As we reported earlier this week, Cafferty and San Diego County Water Authority's general manager Maureen Stapleton gave a presentation at a Breakfast at the BMC lecture event last week, hosted by the Burnham-Moores Center here, on how California's state-of-emergency restrictions on water usage affect the San Diego economy and the real estate industry. We caught up with Cafferty after the event to discuss what the business community in general and the real estate industry in particular should know and do about the water crisis.

GlobeSt.com: What is the biggest message about water conservation that San Diego's business community should hear?

Cafferty: One of the most important things I would say to the business community, in the broadest possible way, is that the issues around water reliability are things we constantly have to be talking about. The Water Authority does a good job of that to mobilize and pull people together regularly. We hold a meeting once a month to give an update on water issues, where the Water Authority answers questions and debunks myths. Through the organizations businesses are already involved in, they need to constantly make sure water is an issue that's being talked about because it's not going to go away any time soon. When you look at the different sectors of our economy—manufacturing, healthcare, craft beer, tourism—water figures in in a big way, albeit a different way for each sector. But you have to make sure you're constantly keeping the discussion going, hearing about problems before they arise and tackling things effectively.

GlobeSt.com: How are businesses helping to conserve water, and what else can they do if they're not already doing it?

Cafferty: Everyone is. We see it right away. We have met and exceeded all the goals that the governor and others have put in place. This is amazing, especially on top of the huge reductions this region has already made. Four or five months ago, the Board spoke with Qualcomm, Sea World, Scripps and various biotech firms to give up dates on what companies had done over the last several years to conserve more water, and it was clear that efforts were well underway before the throes of the drought. Things like Sea World replacing grass with turf or replacing freshwater in toilets and sinks with seawater. Hospitals looked at areas where they had to keep at their current use level and figured out where else they could cut. Northrop Grumman's water use was already down statewide. Everyone to a company can come forward and talk about what they have already done, but they're looking to do more. The discussions we've been doing with the Water Authority have been helpful. Water issues within a given sector tend to be the same, so they have to keep that dialogue strong within their sector.

GlobeSt.com: Where do you see this crisis headed in San Diego?

Cafferty: It's hard to predict the future with the overall water situation, but because San Diego was previously in such a bad and vulnerable position overall with who supplies our water, taxes and fees. So our Water Authority has had to think very differently for decades about generating a more-diverse base of places  from which to draw water. We had the business community working collectively on those efforts, and if you compare 20 years ago to now in terms of where we're getting our water—whether it's the desalination plant in Carlsbad, changing policies or updating them—San Diego is better positioned no matter what the future holds with the state of California. I credit the Water Authority, which has been working on those issues for a while now. Other regions of the state are just starting to pick up those measures now, but it's been a decade-and-a-half effort or longer here in San Diego.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about San Diego's water situation?

Cafferty: Everything about economic development now comes down to space, and our ability to bring in, maintain and grow those companies in the sectors of the future that might not even exist yet gets down to land-use regulations, the availability of buildings and assuring that people can move into and expand into the spaces they need. The real estate community is a critical partner in making sure the water discussion is constantly a part of the development of new homes. They need to play an active role because real estate voices are critical. They need to speak to the water issues that matter most to clients or customers.