there it is. take it
DESCRIPTION
The history of LA water. There it Is. Take it. Municipal Water Uses?. Drinking Bathing Household chores Irrigation Fire hydrants Recreation . Start in 1874. LA has rights to all water in the Los Angeles River “If you don’t get the water, you won’t need it” - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
THERE IT IS. TAKE IT.The history of LA water
Municipal Water Uses?
Drinking Bathing Household chores Irrigation Fire hydrants Recreation
Start in 1874
LA has rights to all water in the Los Angeles River
“If you don’t get the water, you won’t need it”
Increasing water means increasing population and economic growth: social goal
1903, the city takes over control Board of Water Commissioners Annexation and increasing water supply 1904, need for augmenting the LA River
William Mulholland1855-1935
Fred Eaton1856-1934
Visionaries or Villains
Creativity or Chicanery? Bring water from the Owens Valley
235 miles to the north Enterprising or Evil? Need to collect the water rights Politicians or Polecats? Need to convince the public
Water Rights
Eaton procured most of the rights in the Valley
Reclamation Service had plans for a local irrigation program (320 acres per farm)
Conflict of interest: Lippincott All in secrecy Mulholland procures the rest of the rights July 29, 1905: TITANTIC PROJECT TO GIVE
CITY A RIVER
Eaton’s Situation
Sell LA all resources at cost Hold onto one ranch What is necessary for a reservoir?
Describe the topology of the land Sold to LA for $450,000 – twice the
current value as a ranch. Now Crowley Lake
Mulholland
How the heck do we pay for this? $25 million (1905) $1.5M in bonds in 1905 to finish
buying the rights $23M in 1907 for construction Overwhelming public approval Scare tactics and growth dreams? Timing of vote
Other Issues
Needs for right-of-ways from Federal Government
Teddy Roosevelt: “The greatest good for the greatest number.”
LA has many more people than the Valley
1906 legislation Electricity production
Huntington: real estate profits
Jeremy BenthamWhat ought to be the object of the legislator? He ought to assure himself of two things; 1st, that in every case, the incidents which he tries to prevent are really evils; and 2ndly, that if evils, they are greater than those which he employs to prevent them.
1748-1832
First Pipe
Construction begins in 1908
November 5, 1913 Water arrives
An engineering, political and social marvel
The Villains?
Profiteering San Fernando Valley
Unproven, but Commissioner was also a syndicate
owner Dates are simply too coincidental
It was known that excess water would become available
Owens Valley
Mary Austin WAR= dynamite Confrontation Depopulation Infracommunity
conflict Loss of economic
activity Death of Owens Lake
St. Francis Tragedy
A dam that should not have been built
No outside consultation http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MdB_s6KhwA
Mulholland resigns in disgrace What is the measure of a life?