Energy Saver News; WattBusters - Water Whirled

While continuing my trip in California, the thing I noticed immediately (after locating the mountain through the smog) is how dry the brush appeared. Instead of bending in the breeze it looked like it would just break off, kind of like Donald Trump's hair. Hot, dry weather is the norm in Southern California around this time of year. The running joke each morning while looking at the cloudless sky was, "It looks like rain today". You could say rainfall is sporadic at best.

I wondered how so many people could live in a region without enough water to support them. It seems that instead of living where the water is, California has figured out ways to bring the water to where the people are. Through engineering, sheer will and even some slight-of-hand, California has created a system of aqueducts that span hundreds of miles. Think of them as manmade rivers that redirect precious H2O from water-rich areas to dry, populated urban and farm areas.

There are 3 main water sources coming into the Southern California serving different geographic regions:
Los Angeles Aqueduct - constructed from 1908-1913
Colorado Aqueduct - constructed from 1933-1941
California Aqueduct- constructed in the 1970s

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Los Angeles Aqueduct - constructed from 1908-1913 with a capacity of 485 cubic feet second and cost less than $23 million. It's 223 miles long with 52 miles of tunnel.

From the time that Los Angeles was first founded in 1769, the small settlement had depended upon its own river for water. The 11 families that settled in the area dammed up the Los Angeles River and built canals to irrigate fields. But as the city grew, those in charge of supplying the growing population with water knew the small meandering river could not meet future demands.

Years later, William Mulholland went to work for the Los Angeles City Water Company as a ditch tender. When he became superintendent of the water company at the age of 31, Mulholland began to search for a new water supply. He met Fred Eaton who convinced Mulholland that the Owens River could provide Los Angeles with a reliable source of water.

Eaton visited the Owens Valley in 1905 and began to purchase land for the City of Los Angeles. He gave the impression that he was working for the US Reclamation Service on a public irrigation project, angering local residents when they discovered he was buying land and water rights for Los Angeles. A bond measure to pay for the construction passed in Los Angeles by a 10 to 1 margin. After much debate in the House of Representatives, President Theodore Roosevelt decided that Los Angeles should have the rights to the Owens River water. At the dedication of the Los Angeles Aqueduct on November 5, 1913, Mulholland told the thousands of people attending the ceremony that they were there to dedicate the Aqueduct to "you and your children and your children's children for all time."

Once Los Angeles had a reliable water supply it began to grow dramatically. However, Owens Valley residents began to fight the City's water export. Confrontations escalated to several dynamitings of the Aqueduct. To secure its water rights, the City began to purchase extensive tracts of land in the Owens Valley. The challenge to supply water to Los Angeles continued to press. Because the capacity of the Los Angeles Aqueduct was limited, the City was unable to take its full entitlement from the Mono Basin. The California State Water Rights Board urged Los Angeles to take steps to develop its full entitlement, or risk that the water might be granted to others. To increase the Aqueduct capacity, a second aqueduct was built from Haiwee Reservoir in Southern Inyo County to Los Angeles.

The completion of the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1970 and the City's plans to augment the Aqueduct flow with Owens Valley groundwater prompted renewed local protests. Inyo County filed suit against Los Angeles under the new California Environmental Quality Act, seeking an Environmental Impact Report on new aqueduct. In 1984, after years of disagreements and court hearings, Inyo County and Los Angeles entered into an Agreement to produce a EIR together.

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Colorado Aqueduct - constructed from 1933-41, 242 miles long through desert

The Colorado River Aqueduct is a 242-mi (392 km) diversion canal in southern California in the United States. The project employed 30,000 people over an eight year period-and as many as 10,000 people at one time-which made it southern California's single largest work opportunity during the Depression. The aqueduct diverts water from the Colorado River along the California-Arizona west across the Mojave and Colorado deserts to the east side of the Santa Ana Mountains. The aqueduct is operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) as one of the primary sources of drinking water in southern California.

The Colorado River Aqueduct was built from 1933-41 at the height of the Great Depression. It was designed and built under the direction of Chief Engineer Frank E. Weymouth of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), an organization created by state legislative decree in 1928 for the purpose of constructing this water conveyance system. MWD continues to operate the aqueduct. The 242-mile long aqueduct crosses a harsh desert landscape and is a vital component in supplying Los Angeles and much of southern California with Colorado River water. Its completion assured that a reliable supply of water would be available to sustain urban and industrial survival and growth into the late-twentieth century.

The construction of the aqueduct is widely credited as being a principal reason for the industrial growth of the region during World War II and the following decades. In 1992, the aqueduct was recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) as one of the seven "wonders" of the American engineering world.

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California Aqueduct - constructed in the 1970s, 450 miles long

The California Aqueduct is an artificial concrete-lined water transport channel. It is the main water transport structure of the California State Water Project and at nearly 450 miles in length, it is the longest river in California.

It moves water from Northern California to Southern California. It begins at the Sacramento River Delta, carries water south through the Central Valley where it often parallels Interstate 5, and then is pumped up 2,000 feet to cross the Tehachapi Mountains. At this point it divides into two branches. The east branch feeds Lake Perris in Riverside County, while the west branch heads toward Castaic Lake in the Angeles National Forest.

Sizes of channels vary along the aqueduct, a typical section has a concrete-lined channel 40 feet wide at the base. The water averages about 30 feet deep.

Water flows through the aqueduct in a series of abrupt rises and gradual falls. The water flows down a long segment, built at a slight grade, and arrives at a pumping station. The pumping station raises the water, where it again gradually flows downhill to the next station. The initial pumping station fed by the Sacramento River Delta raises the water 240 feet, while a series of pumps culminating at the Edmonston Pumping Station raises the water 2,000 feet to cross the Tehachapi Mountains.

Because of strong conservation efforts, southern California is using about the same amount of water as it used fifteen years ago despite an almost 30% growth in its population. They thrive in an arid region, feed themselves and much of the world and still have enough water left over for industry and recreation purposes. Through all the engineering woes, back-breaking work and legal wrangling, they have achieved what amounts to a garden oasis in a harsh land.

Here's a statistic: The State of California consumes more energy pumping water around, than some other states use for their entire energy needs. That's what I call water whirled...