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There it Is. Take it.

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”

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There it Is. Take it.

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  1. The history of LA water There it Is. Take it.

  2. Municipal Water Uses? • Drinking • Bathing • Household chores • Irrigation • Fire hydrants • Recreation

  3. 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

  4. William Mulholland1855-1935

  5. Fred Eaton1856-1934

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. 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

  11. Jeremy Bentham What 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

  12. First Pipe • Construction begins in 1908 • November 5, 1913 Water arrives • An engineering, political and social marvel

  13. 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

  14. Owens Valley • Mary Austin • WAR= dynamite • Confrontation • Depopulation • Infracommunity conflict • Loss of economic activity • Death of Owens Lake

  15. 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?

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