When the city of Los Angeles, California was first formed in 1769 there was a population of approximately 11 families. At the time the settlement was founded, the occupants depended on the Los Angeles River for all of their water. They built dams to store the water and built special canals to directly irrigate their fields and crops.

The city of Los Angeles has obviously grown from a group of 11 families to a city with almost 10,000,000 inhabitants today. It didn’t take long for the original settlers to realize that the Los Angeles River wouldn’t be able to supply enough water to keep up with growing demand. In the early 1900’s, plans for the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct were formed.

Plans for the Construction of the Aquaduct

The City of Los Angeles had grown to a population of just over 100,000 by 1902. At that time, the City of Los Angeles spent $2 million dollars to buy out the Los Angeles City Water Company. They did so in order to protect the city because they had seen the city’s population quadruple over the course of only 30 years.

At the time it was purchased, the water system included 300 miles of water mains, 6 reservoirs, and a series of pumping plants and infiltration galleries. The city was growing and it was estimated that by 1925 the city would be using more than 58 million gallons of water per day, a demand that the Los Angeles River would simply be unable to keep up with.

In 1905, Fred Eaton and a group of friends went on a camping trip that led them across the Sierra at Tioga Pass and into the Owens Valley. While there, Eaton surveyed the land and began to make plans that would involve using the valley as a source of water for the city. When he returned, he approached William Mulholland, a long time city worker who had been searching for a new water supply for the city, took him to the valley, and explained his ideas.

Because the Owens Valley was considered part of a US Reclamation Service project, Mulholland knew that the only way the city would be able to purchase land and use it as a water supply was if they kept the project 100% public. Eaton, on the other hand, wanted to sell water that the city could not use. Regardless, the Owens Valley was the only hope for continuous water supply to the city of Los Angeles.

Construction of the First Aquaduct

Construction of the first Aquaduct began in 1905 and was designed to bring water from the Owens Valley to the city. With a budget of $24.5 million dollars, more than 5,000 workers built a 223 mile long, 12 foot wide steel pipe along with a 120-mile railroad track. They were also charged with the task of building two hydroelectric plants, 500 miles of roads, telephone lines, and power lines. The Aquaduct itself relied on gravity to carry water through the pipes, so the cost of operation remained relatively low.

Sadly, the construction of the Los Angeles Aquaduct destroyed the farming villages in the Owens River Valley. There were also concerns that the land purchaser (Eaton) had misrepresented himself as using the land for part of the reclamation project before turning around and reselling the land to the city of Los Angeles. It was, of course, too late to stop the project.

Construction of the Second Aquaduct

After World War II the city recognized a need to find another more reliable source of water from the city and began turning its eyes towards the Colorado River. Plans for the second Los Angeles Aquaduct, also known as the Colorado River Aquaduct, were born. Construction, which drew water from the 7 tributaries around the Mon Basin, began in 1965 at a cost of $89 million.

The city of Los Angeles today has three sources of water. The two aforementioned aquaducts as well as one from the Haiwee Reservoir in Southern Inyo County. The city of Los Angeles continued to grow and does to this day. There are constant concerns over not only the amount of water available but the quality of the water as well. In 1986, Los Angeles built its first filtration plant, a site that continues to monitor water quality today.

The city of Los Angeles has taken measures over the past two decades to preserve water. They meter water usage, an act that immediately dropped the per capita amount of daily usage, and continue to reclaim water in an effort to remain environmentally responsible.

The Los Angeles Aquaduct is an incredible feat of engineering and, had it not been built, the city of Los Angeles would not exist as it does today.