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The San Diego County Water Authority and Western Municipal Water District Thursday inked a long-term water supply agreement to provide the Riverside County agency water and ensure consistent income for the SDCWA.

Under the agreement, Western Water will receive a minimum of 10,000 acre-feet of water annually over the next 21 years, enough to supply around 30,000 Southern California households each year. That agency, which provides water, wastewater, and recycled water services to nearly 1 million people across 527 square miles in western Riverside County, also agreed to purchase around 30,000 acre-feet of water for future delivery, a nearly $40 million investment.

San Diego, in its corner of the continent, is at the end of the line of a lot of resources. Gas, railroad and water lines all end here.

So it was remarkable, historic even, that this week a theory became real: San Diego sold water to another region, specifically Temecula. Our decades of painful, costly, somewhat questionable investments in water reliability really did put us into the position of broker, exporter even. And the promises are flying that relief is coming. San Diegans who pay the highest rates for water around may someday soon see that burden ease because we are not just desperate buyers at the end of the line, we are owners.

The San Diego County Water Authority and Western Municipal Water District have signed a long-term water supply agreement to provide the Riverside County agency with water while generating consistent revenue for the San Diego agency.

Under the agreement, Western Water will receive a minimum of 10,000 acre-feet of water annually over the next 21 years — enough to supply about 30,000 Southern California households each year.

Dignitaries from Southern California water world made a big deal Thursday over Riverside officials agreeing to purchase water from oversupplied San Diego.

That deal is nothing compared to the larger one San Diego is pursuing to sell its water supplies across state lines for likely a much higher price. It’s a long way off from happening, but that plan, pitched by San Diego earlier this month, could rewrite how entire U.S. states share the drying Colorado River and Southern California’s main water supply.