Escondido Has Some of San Diego County’s Priciest Water. Avocado Growers Have Waited a Decade for a Lifeline.

Burnet Wohlford’s family built Escondido’s water supply. More than a century ago, his great-grandfather, Alvin, directed water to the area from the San Luis Rey River along a rock and brush canal. It’s a legacy built into the landscape, the dammed reservoir northeast of town bearing the family’s name.

But all these years later, the water system Wohlford’s family helped build is the very thing making life harder for him.