Four
years of continuing drought in California has brought water conservation and
use enforcement to the forefront of the news.
Some solutions are building new dams and water-storage facilities and
water market approaches re pricing, as well as seeking water elsewhere.
Preservation
Foundation President Alexander Ives presented this past week Part 1 of the
movie, Cadillac Desert-Mulholland’s Dream, about the role of water in the history
of Los Angeles. The exploding population
was using up the water supply so LA Water Department Chief William Mulholland
set about seeking water to bring in. His
agents quietly purchased water rights to a lake 230 miles to the east, soon
depriving local farmers in Owens Valley the water they needed for their farms
and animals from the Owens River. What
followed was havoc, building pipelines that farmers dynamited and otherwise
sabotaged. Nevertheless, the water was
transported through the pipelines to Los Angeles creating new neighborhoods,
the benefits from which politicians thrived.
This happened in the late 1920’s.
It
was a truly timely presentation as Los Angeles struggles today with water conservation
and perhaps plans again to divert water from elsewhere. With an endless ocean right there, one
wonders why that water can’t be converted for public use. Hopefully, someone is working on overcoming
whatever obstacles there are to this obvious potential solution.
Marc
Reisner, author of Cadillac Desert, describes in his book the economics, history,
politics and ecology of water in the reclaiming of the American West. He was featured in the film.
If
Mr. Ives focus is alerting us to our environment and making us aware of what is
happening with our natural elements, he is succeeding very well.
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