Los Angeles Aqueduct
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Los Angeles Aqueduct system, comprising the Los Angeles Aqueduct (Owens Valley aqueduct) and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct, is a water conveyance system, built and operated by the
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal utility in the United States with 8,100 megawatts of electric generating capacity (2021-2022) and delivering an average of 435 million gallons of water per day to more ...
. The Owens Valley aqueduct was designed and built by the city's water department, at the time named The Bureau of Los Angeles Aqueduct, under the supervision of the department's Chief Engineer
William Mulholland William Mulholland (September 11, 1855 – July 22, 1935) was an Irish Americans, Irish American self-taught civil engineer who was responsible for building the infrastructure to provide a water supply that allowed Los Angeles to grow into the la ...
. The system delivers water from the
Owens River The Owens River is a river in eastern California in the United States, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 17, 2011, It drains into and through the ...
in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains to
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. The aqueduct's construction was controversial from the start, as water diversions to Los Angeles eliminated the
Owens Valley Owens Valley (Numic Numic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin, Colorado River basin, Snake River basin, and southern Great Pl ...
as a viable farming community. Clauses in the city's charter originally stated that the city could not sell or provide surplus water to any area outside the city, forcing adjacent communities to annex themselves into Los Angeles. The aqueduct's infrastructure also included the completion of the
St. Francis Dam The St. Francis Dam was a concrete gravity dam located in San Francisquito Canyon in Los Angeles County, California, United States, built from 1924 to 1926 to serve Los Angeles's growing water needs. It catastrophically failed in 1928 due to a d ...
in 1926 to provide storage in case of disruption to the system. The dam's collapse two years later killed at least 431 people, halted the rapid pace of annexation, and eventually led to the formation of the
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a regional wholesaler and the largest supplier of treated water in the United States. The name is usually shortened to "Met," "Metropolitan," or "MWD." It is a cooperative of fourteen cit ...
to build and operate the
Colorado River Aqueduct The Colorado River Aqueduct, or CRA, is a water conveyance in Southern California in the United States, operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). The aqueduct impounds water from the Colorado River at Lake Hava ...
to bring water from the
Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
to
Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...
. The continued operation of the Los Angeles Aqueduct has led to public debate, legislation, and court battles over its environmental impacts on
Mono Lake Mono Lake ( ) is a saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake which make its water alk ...
and other ecosystems.


First Los Angeles Aqueduct


Construction

The aqueduct project began in 1905 when the voters of Los Angeles approved a bond for the 'purchase of lands and water and the inauguration of work on the aqueduct'. On June 12, 1907, a second bond was passed with a budget of to fund construction. Construction began in 1908 and was divided into eleven divisions. The city acquired three limestone quarries, two
Tufa Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitate out of water in unheated rivers or lakes. Geothermally heated hot springs sometimes produce similar (but less porous) carbonate deposits, which are known as travertine. ...
quarries and it constructed and operated a cement plant in
Monolith, California Monolith (formerly, Aqueduct) is an unincorporated community in the Tehachapi Valley, in Kern County, California. The community is located east of Tehachapi, at an elevation of in the southern Sierra Nevada and eastern Tehachapi Pass areas. ...
which could produce 1,200 barrels of Portland cement per day. Regrinding mills were also built and operated by the city at the tufa quarries. To move 14 million ton-miles of freight, the city contracted with Southern Pacific to build a 118 mile long rail system from the Monolith mills to Olancha. The number of men who were on the payroll the first year was 2,629 and this number peaked at 6,060 in May 1909. In 1910, employment dropped to 1,150 due to financial reasons but rebounded later in the year. Between 1911 and 1912 employment ranged from 2,800 to 3,800 workers. The number of laborers working on the aqueduct at its peak was 3,900. Includes construction photos. In 1913, the City of Los Angeles completed construction of the first Los Angeles Aqueduct.


Route

The aqueduct as originally constructed consisted of six storage reservoirs and of conduit. Beginning north of Black Rock Springs, the aqueduct diverts the
Owens River The Owens River is a river in eastern California in the United States, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 17, 2011, It drains into and through the ...
into an unlined canal to begin its journey south to the Lower San Fernando Reservoir. This reservoir was later renamed the Lower Van Norman Reservoir. The original project consisted of of open unlined canal, of lined open canal, of covered concrete conduit, of concrete tunnels, steel siphons, of railroad track, two hydroelectric plants, three cement plants, of power lines, of telephone line, of roads and was later expanded with the construction of the Mono Extension and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct. The aqueduct uses gravity alone to move the water and also uses the water to generate electricity, which makes it cost-efficient to operate.


Reactions by impacted communities

The construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct effectively eliminated the Owens Valley as a viable farming community and eventually devastated the
Owens Lake Owens Lake is a mostly dry lake in the Owens Valley on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in Inyo County, California. It is about south of Lone Pine, California. Unlike most dry lakes in the Basin and Range Province that have been dry for th ...
ecosystem. A group labeled the "San Fernando Syndicate" – including Fred Eaton, Mulholland, Harrison Otis (the publisher of The
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
), Henry Huntington (an executive of the Pacific Electric Railroad), and other wealthy individuals – were a group of investors who bought land in the
San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...
allegedly based on inside knowledge that the Los Angeles aqueduct would soon irrigate it and encourage development. Although there is disagreement over the actions of the "syndicate" as to whether they were a "diabolical" cabal or only a group that united the Los Angeles business community behind supporting the aqueduct, Eaton, Mulholland and others connected with the project have long been accused of using deceptive tactics and underhanded methods to obtain water rights and block the
Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...
from building water infrastructure for the residents in Owens Valley. By the 1920s, the aggressive pursuits of the water rights and the diversion of the Owens River precipitated the outbreak of violence known as the California water wars. Farmers in Owens Valley attacked infrastructure, dynamiting the aqueduct numerous times and opening sluice gates to divert the flow of water.


St. Francis Dam failure

In 1917, The Bureau of Los Angeles Aqueduct sought to build a holding reservoir to regulate flow, provide hydroelectric power, and storage in case of disruption to the aqueduct system. The initial site chosen was in Long Valley, east of the Owens River, but Eaton, who had bought up much of the valley in anticipation of the need for a reservoir, refused to sell the land at the price offered by Los Angeles. Mulholland then made the decision to move the reservoir to
San Francisquito Canyon San Francisquito Canyon is a canyon created through erosion of the Sierra Pelona Mountains by the San Francisquito Creek, in Los Angeles County, Southern California. Geography The canyon cuts through the Sierra Pelona Mountains, which are centr ...
above what is now
Santa Clarita, California Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-largest city by population in Los Angeles County, the 17th ...
. The resulting
St. Francis Dam The St. Francis Dam was a concrete gravity dam located in San Francisquito Canyon in Los Angeles County, California, United States, built from 1924 to 1926 to serve Los Angeles's growing water needs. It catastrophically failed in 1928 due to a d ...
was completed in 1926 and created a reservoir capacity of 38,000 acre-feet (47,000,000 m3). On March 12, 1928, the dam catastrophically failed, sending a wall of water down the canyon, ultimately reaching the Pacific Ocean near Ventura and Oxnard, and killing at least 431 people. The resulting investigation and trial led to the retirement of William Mulholland as the head of the Los Angeles Bureau of Water Works and Supply in 1929. The dam failure is the worst man-made flood disaster in the US in the 20th century and the second largest single-event loss of life in California history after the
1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...
.


Mono Basin Extension

In an effort to find more water, the city of Los Angeles reached farther north. In 1930, Los Angeles voters passed a third bond to buy land in the
Mono Basin The Mono Basin is an endorheic drainage basin located east of Yosemite National Park in California and Nevada. It is bordered to the west by the Sierra Nevada, to the east by the Cowtrack Mountains, to the north by the Bodie Hills, and to the sou ...
and fund the Mono Basin extension. The extension diverted flows from the Rush Creek,
Lee Vining Creek Lee Vining Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 17, 2011 stream in Mono County, California, flowing into the endorheic basin of Mono Lake. It is the second la ...
, Walker and Parker Creeks that would have flowed into
Mono Lake Mono Lake ( ) is a saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake which make its water alk ...
. The construction of the Mono extension consisted of an intake at Lee Vining Creek, the Lee Vining conduit to the Grant Reservoir on Rush Creek, which would have a capacity of , the Mono Craters Tunnel to the
Owens River The Owens River is a river in eastern California in the United States, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 17, 2011, It drains into and through the ...
and a second reservoir, later named
Crowley Lake Crowley Lake is a reservoir on the upper Owens River in southern Mono County, California, in the United States. Crowley Lake is south of Mammoth Lakes. The lake was created in 1941 by the building of the Long Valley Dam by the Los Angeles Depa ...
with a capacity of in Long Valley at the head of the Owens River Gorge. Completed in 1940, diversions began in 1941. The Mono Extension has a design capacity of of flow to the aqueduct; however, the flow was limited to due to the limited downstream capacity of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Full appropriation of the water could not be met until the second aqueduct was completed in 1970.


The Mono Extension's impact on Mono Basin and litigation

Between 1940 and 1970, water exports through the Mono Extension averaged per year and peaked at in 1974. Export licenses granted by the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) in 1974 increased exports to per year. These export levels severely impacted the region's fish habitat, lake level and air quality, which led to a series of lawsuits. The results of the litigation culminated with a SWRCB Decision to restore fishery protection (stream) flows to specified minimums, and raise Mono Lake to above sea level. The agreement limited further exports from the Mono Basin to per year.


Second Los Angeles Aqueduct

In 1956, the State Department of Water Resources reported that Los Angeles was only exporting of water of the available in the Owens Valley and Mono Basin. Three years later, the State Water Rights Board warned Los Angeles that they could lose rights to the water they were permitted for but not appropriating. Faced with the possible loss of future water supply, Los Angeles began the five-year construction of the aqueduct in 1965 at a cost US$89 million. Once the city received diversion permits, water exports jumped in 1970, adding 110,000 AF that year into the aqueduct system. By 1974, exports climbed to per year. Unlike the First Aqueduct which was built entirely by Public Works, the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct was primarily built on contract by various private construction firms including R.A. Wattson Co., Winston Bros., and the Griffith Co. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power managed the project and performed some finishing construction on the Mojave conduit and Jawbone & Dove Spring pipelines.


Route

The aqueduct was designed to flow and begins at the Merritt Diversion Structure at the junction of the North and South Haiwee Reservoirs, south of
Owens Lake Owens Lake is a mostly dry lake in the Owens Valley on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in Inyo County, California. It is about south of Lone Pine, California. Unlike most dry lakes in the Basin and Range Province that have been dry for th ...
, and runs roughly parallel to the first aqueduct. Water flows entirely by gravity from an elevation of at the Haiwee Reservoir through two power drops to an elevation of at the Upper Van Norman Reservoir. The Second Aqueduct was not built as a single contiguous conduit. For design and construction purposes the aqueduct was divided into Northern and Southern sections and the two are connected by the San Francisquito Tunnels, which are part of the First Aqueduct. The Northern Section carries water starting at the North Haiwee Reservoir through the Haiwee Bypass passing around the South Haiwee Reservoir. The flow then continues south through a series of pressure pipelines and concrete conduits where it connects up with the First Aqueduct at the North Portal of the Elizabeth Tunnel near the Fairmont Reservoir. The San Francisquito Tunnels (which includes the Elizabeth Tunnel) has a flow capacity of and is large enough to handle the flow of both aqueducts. Once the combined flow reaches the penstocks above Power Plant #2, water is diverted into the Southern Section of the second aqueduct away through the Drinkwater Tunnel to the Drinkwater Reservoir. The last segment of pipe, known as the Saugus Pipeline,Includes maps and pictures carries water south past Bouquet Canyon,
Soledad Canyon Soledad Canyon is a long narrow canyon/valley located in Los Angeles County, California between the cities of Palmdale and Santa Clarita. It is a part of the Santa Clara River Valley, and extends from the top of Soledad Pass to the open plain of ...
and
Placerita Canyon Placerita Canyon State Park is a California State Park located on the north slope of the western San Gabriel Mountains, in an unincorporated rural area of Los Angeles County, near the city of Santa Clarita. The park hosts a variety of historic and ...
in the city of
Santa Clarita Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-largest city by population in Los Angeles County, the 17t ...
. From there it roughly parallels
Sierra Highway Sierra Highway or El Camino Sierra is a road in Southern California, United States. El Camino Sierra refers to the full length of a trail formed in the 19th century, rebuilt as highways in the early 20th century, that ran from Los Angeles to Lake ...
before it enters Magazine Canyon towards the Terminal structure and Cascades. Water from the Terminal structure can then flow to either the Cascade or penstock to the Foothill Power Plant and into the Upper Van Norman Reservoir. In addition to the construction in the Northern and Southern sections, improvements were also made to the lined canal between the Alabama Gates and the North Haiwee Reservoir in the Northern Section that consisted of adding sidewalls to both sides of the canal and the raising of overcrosses. This work increased the capacity of the lined canal from to cfs.


Second aqueduct's impact on the water system

The increased flows provided by the second aqueduct lasted only from 1971 through 1988. In 1974 the environmental consequences of the higher exports were first being recognized in the Mono Basin and Owens Valley. This was followed by a series of court ordered restrictions imposed on water exports, which resulted in Los Angeles losing water. In 2005, the Los Angeles Urban Water Management Report reported that 40–50% of the aqueduct's historical supply is now devoted to ecological resources in Mono and Inyo counties.


Influence on Los Angeles and the county

Between 1909 and 1928, the city of Los Angeles grew from 61 square miles to 440 square miles. This was due largely to the aqueduct, and the city's charter was worded such that it stated the City of Los Angeles could not sell or provide surplus water to any area outside the city. Outlying areas relied on wells and creeks for water and, as they dried up, the people in those areas realized that if they were going to be able to continue irrigating their farms and provide themselves domestic water, they would have to annex themselves to the City of Los Angeles. Growth was so rapid that it appeared as if the city of Los Angeles would eventually assume the size of the entire county. William Mulholland continued adding capacity to the aqueduct, building the
St. Francis Dam The St. Francis Dam was a concrete gravity dam located in San Francisquito Canyon in Los Angeles County, California, United States, built from 1924 to 1926 to serve Los Angeles's growing water needs. It catastrophically failed in 1928 due to a d ...
that would impound the waters creating the San Francisquito Reservoir, filed for additional water on the Colorado River and he began sending engineers and miners to clear the heading at the San Jacinto Tunnel that he knew was key to the construction of the
Colorado River Aqueduct The Colorado River Aqueduct, or CRA, is a water conveyance in Southern California in the United States, operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). The aqueduct impounds water from the Colorado River at Lake Hava ...
. The aqueduct's water provided developers with the resources to quickly develop the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles through World War II. Mulholland's role in the vision and completion of the aqueduct and the growth of Los Angeles into a large metropolis is recognized with the William Mulholland Memorial Fountain, built in 1940 at Riverside Drive and Los Feliz Boulevard in Los Feliz.
Mulholland Drive Mulholland Drive is a street and road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. It is named after pioneering Los Angeles civil engineer William Mulholland. The western rural portion in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties is nam ...
and Mulholland Dam are both named after him. Many more cities and unincorporated areas would likely have annexed into the city of Los Angeles if the
St. Francis Dam The St. Francis Dam was a concrete gravity dam located in San Francisquito Canyon in Los Angeles County, California, United States, built from 1924 to 1926 to serve Los Angeles's growing water needs. It catastrophically failed in 1928 due to a d ...
had not collapsed. The catastrophic failure of the St. Francis Dam in 1928 killed an estimated 431 people, flooded parts of Santa Clarita, and devastated much of the
Santa Clara River Valley The Santa Clara River Valley is a rural, mainly agricultural, valley in Ventura County, California that has been given the moniker Heritage Valley by the namesake tourism bureau. The valley includes the communities of Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru ...
in
Ventura County Ventura County () is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura. Ventura County comprises the Oxnar ...
. The failure of the dam raised the question in a number of people's minds whether the city had engineering competence and capability to manage such a large project as the Colorado River Aqueduct despite the fact that they had built the Los Angeles Aqueduct. After the collapse, the pace of annexation came to a rapid halt when eleven nearby cities including Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Beverly Hills, San Marino, Santa Monica, Anaheim, Colton, Santa Ana, and San Bernardino decided to form the
Metropolitan Water District The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a regional wholesaler and the largest supplier of treated water in the United States. The name is usually shortened to "Met," "Metropolitan," or "MWD." It is a cooperative of fourteen cit ...
with Los Angeles. The city's growth following the formation of the MWD would be limited to 27.65 square miles.


In popular culture

* Saugus High School derives the name of its daily newsletter, The Pipeline, from an exposed portion of the first aqueduct that passes southwest of the school's property. *
San Francisquito Canyon San Francisquito Canyon is a canyon created through erosion of the Sierra Pelona Mountains by the San Francisquito Creek, in Los Angeles County, Southern California. Geography The canyon cuts through the Sierra Pelona Mountains, which are centr ...
and DWP Power House #1 are featured in ''Visiting... with
Huell Howser Huell Burnley Howser (October 18, 1945 – January 7, 2013) was an American television personality, actor, producer, writer, singer, and voice artist, best known for hosting, producing, and writing ''California's Gold'' and his human interest sh ...
'' Episode 424.


California Historical Landmark – Cascades

The Cascades, which was completed on November 5, 1913, is located near the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Balboa Boulevard, four miles northwest of San Fernando. It was designated as a
California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...
on July 28, 1958.


Gallery

File:Owens-river-diversion-gates.jpg, Diversion gates that control inflow to the Lower Owens River File:La-aqueduct-intake.jpg, Intake where water is diverted from the Owens River File:Water-entering-los-angeles-aqueduct.jpg, Water entering the aqueduct at its northern terminus file:LA Aqueduct Antelope Valley.jpg, The Los Angeles Aqueduct in
Antelope Valley The Antelope Valley is located in northern Los Angeles County, California, and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated between the Tehachapi, Sierra Pelona, and the ...
file:Cat45-mojave.jpg, Holt tractors at work during construction of the first aqueduct in 1909 file:LAAqueductUnlined2.jpg, Unlined section of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, just south of
Manzanar Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, it was one o ...
, near US Highway 395 file:LA Aqueduct Cascades.jpg, The Terminal Structure and
penstock A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is inherited from the earlier technology of mill ponds and watermills. H ...
above and alongside the new Cascades on the Los Angeles Aqueduct near
Newhall Pass Newhall Pass is a low mountain pass in Los Angeles County, California. Historically called Fremont Pass and San Fernando Pass, with Beale's Cut, it separates the Santa Susana Mountains from the San Gabriel Mountains. Although the pass was visite ...
File:Department Surveying LAA2.jpg, Department Surveyors plotting topography for Second Los Angeles Aqueduct. File:Fairmont Mill.jpg, Fairmont Mill ruins on the east side of Fairmont Butte. This mill was one of three that the city ran to produce cement for the Los Angeles Aqueduct. File:LAA Historical Water (1913 to 2011).jpg, Chart showing water imports through the Los Angeles Aqueduct system from 1913 through 2011. File:Shangri-La Estates.png, Shangri-La Estates in
Ridgecrest, CA Ridgecrest is a city in Kern County, California, United States, along U.S. Route 395 in the Indian Wells Valley in northeastern Kern County, adjacent to the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake (NAWS, or China Lake). It was incorporated as ...
was built to provide temporary housing for personnel during the construction of the SLAA. File:Construction of the Terminal Structure above the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct cascade.png, Forming in place for Terminal Structure above the SLAA cascade. File:Pouring Concrete for the Terminal Structure above the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct cascade.png, Pouring concrete for Terminal Structure above the SLAA cascade. File:SLAA Conduit Construction.jpg, Construction of the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct. File:SLAA Finished concrete box conduit.jpg, Finished concrete box on the Los Angeles Aqueduct.


See also

*
American Water Landmark An American Water Landmark is a landmark within the United States, Canada, or Mexico that is a historic location and is associated in some way with water. The American Water Works Association has designated American Water Landmarks since 1969. T ...
*
California Aqueduct The Governor Edmund G. Brown California Aqueduct is a system of canals, tunnels, and pipelines that conveys water collected from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and valleys of Northern and Central California to Southern California. Named after Cali ...
*
Colorado River Aqueduct The Colorado River Aqueduct, or CRA, is a water conveyance in Southern California in the United States, operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). The aqueduct impounds water from the Colorado River at Lake Hava ...
* State Water Project *
Owensmouth Owensmouth, California, was a town founded in 1912 in the western part of the San Fernando Valley. Owensmouth joined the city of Los Angeles in 1917, and was renamed Canoga Park on March 1, 1931. Owensmouth was named for the 1913 Owens River a ...


References

Notes Further reading * * *


External links


LADWP: official Los Angeles Aqueduct website

UCLA: Los Angeles Aqueduct Digital Platform

Los Angeles Aqueduct Landscape Atlas

Mono Lake Committee Website

LADWP: History page on William Mulholland

Los Angeles Aqueduct Slideshow

The William Mulholland Memorial Fountain

Image_of_workers_making_repairs_on_a_damaged_section_of_the_Los_Angeles_Aqueduct_in_No-Name_Canyon,_Inyo_County_vicinity,_[about_1927
.html" ;"title="bout 1927">Image of workers making repairs on a damaged section of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in No-Name Canyon, Inyo County vicinity, [about 1927
">bout 1927">Image of workers making repairs on a damaged section of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in No-Name Canyon, Inyo County vicinity, [about 1927
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Generating stations in California, state=autocollapse Aqueducts in California Interbasin transfer Water in California Aqueduct Aqueduct History of the San Fernando Valley History of Inyo County, California History of Mono County, California Owens Valley Sierra Nevada (United States) Transportation buildings and structures in Inyo County, California Transportation buildings and structures in Kern County, California Transportation buildings and structures in Los Angeles County, California Transportation buildings and structures in Mono County, California Buildings and structures in the San Fernando Valley Historic American Buildings Survey in California Historic American Engineering Record in California Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments 1913 establishments in California Hydroelectric power plants in California