Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
As it turned out, only a small amount of this pristine water was actually
used by Los Angeles residents for drinking. Most of that “wonderful cham-
pagne water” was used to irrigate orchards, i ll swimming pools, and water
lawns, gardens, and palm trees planted by the city in its ef ort to transform
this semiarid Southern Californian desert into an empire.
h e Owens Valley water project set the tone for the water battles that
followed in the twentieth century. Disputes erupted between the Owens
Valley farmers, who were eventually ruined as their water disappeared, and
the rapidly expanding city of Los Angeles. Major environmental impacts
resulted, including the disappearance of Owens Lake, which lay at the
southern end of the Owens River, in 1924. For millennia, this ancient lake
had been large (twelve miles by eight miles) and had served as an impor-
tant nesting and feeding stopover point for millions of waterfowl along the
Pacii c Flyway. When the lake completely dried up in the 1920s, 108 square
miles of dry lakebed, including a mixture of evaporite minerals (those that
precipitate from the dissolved salts in the evaporating water), sand, and clay,
were exposed to erosion. Winds blowing in the region generated great alkali
dust storms, leading to poor air quality. h e Owens Valley was rapidly con-
verted from the lush agricultural region the pioneers had created back into a
semi-arid desert with grasses and shrubs—albeit one without a river running
through it.
Two decades later, Southern California again looked far ai eld for
more water to meet its growing population: this time the Colorado River
was to be its new water source. h e 1931 propaganda i lm “h irst” aimed to
convince voters to approve bonds to build another aqueduct that would ulti-
mately bring water to Los Angeles from the Colorado River. In this movie,
the chairman of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
narrates:
All of Southern California was at one time a desert waste. We have reclaimed
this desert and now we have in its place this growing empire. But the desert
is ever around us, waiting and eager to take back what was once its own. And
it will take it back, unless we bring in more water. Unless we take immedi-
ate steps to bring in water from an outside source, the people of Southern
California will be up against a serious water shortage. But we're fortunate at
having within our reach a water source capable of supplying our needs. h is
source is the Colorado River. We must not think that this is something for
the future; it is of the most immediate and pressing necessity. If we are to
survive and to grow, we must have the water that will enable us to maintain
our mastery over the desert.
