Mt Whitney Webcam
Mt Williamson Webcam
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 155 guests, and 16 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
LADWP in Owens Valley, "There it is, take it"
#28450 10/12/12 03:04 PM
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,158
OP Offline
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,158
Coming soon to a radio in your car. Or a download.

LADWP History in Owens Valley

Re: LADWP in Owens Valley, "There it is, take it"
SierraNevada #28455 10/12/12 05:40 PM
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 27
Likes: 1
Offline
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 27
Likes: 1
This is pretty cool:

The Los Angeles Aqueduct: A Landscape Atlas
http://owensriver.ultramoderne.net/

Lo-res version [97 MB]:
http://owensriver.ultramoderne.net/files/thesis.pdf

Re: LADWP in Owens Valley, "There it is, take it"
QITNL #28457 10/12/12 07:34 PM
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 202
G
Woodsy Guy
Offline
Woodsy Guy
G
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 202
Always an interesting topic -- and a great source of righteous (and justified) anger over LA's shady and illegal acquisition of water rights and land on the east side.

But! But!! What would the incredible Owens Valley look like if it had the unlimited (essentially) water of the Sierra? Lack of water is the only limitation on growth along the 395 corridor. Would it be an endless suburb of LA?? I suspect so.

Of course, people on the east side who feel totally screwed in their growth opportunities may not see it quite this way, but it's worth considering as a "what if" trade off.

g.


None of the views expressed here in any way represent those of the unidentified agency that I work for or, often, reality. It's just me, fired up by coffee and powerful prose.
Re: LADWP in Owens Valley, "There it is, take it"
George #28477 10/13/12 08:10 AM
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 908
Likes: 2
B
Offline
B
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 908
Likes: 2
As you say; it is a "what if?"

One of the inhibiters to growth is the long-distance from major population centers (LA, SF), which would have (and still do) caused travel problems. There would probably have been a continuation of fruit and vegetable farms for local, fresh produce, but probably not much would have been shipped out of the area.

In the early 1950's, Bishop airport (a former WWII bomber training base) was being considered as a possible site for the Air Force Academy. Most locals were greatly relived when that ideas was dropped. Bishop might have looked like Colorado Springs, otherwise!

We like our small town environment and want to keep it that way. It's one of the last good places in this country. So, as many locals like to say, "thanks for visiting...now go home!" LOL.

Re: LADWP in Owens Valley, "There it is, take it"
Bob West #28482 10/13/12 09:25 AM
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,158
OP Offline
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,158
Good point, George. The outcome for Owens Valley is pretty good for the recreational visitor. If LADWP didn't take it, then corporate farms would've taken over anyway. With the enormous value of that water, the small farmers fighting amongst themselves never stood a chance. It would be very much like the Central valley on the west side of Sierras (without the rolling foothills). There would be a lot more development and it would lose its sense of remoteness.

The people of Owens Valley who were tricked into signing away water rights shouldn't feel so bad. The people of LA were manipulated similarly:

"In the first bond issue election in 1905 in which the relatively trivial amount of $1.5 million would be up for approval to pay for the land and rights to the Owens Valley
water the city would be appropriating, a certain level of tact was necessary on the part of city officials. The fact that Los Angeles residents would be paying so much just to buy the rights to water for which there was no demonstrated demand forced the new Bureau of Water Works and Supply to come up with a forceful and convincing pitch. Outside of enlisting the support of the city's biggest newspapers (whose owners had a considerable financial stake in the deal going through), William Mulholland, the chief engineer of the project, did two simple things that all but guaranteed that the issue would pass. First, he fabricated a water famine in a particularly wet year by announcing that the Los Angeles River could not support more than 220,000 people (a prediction that turned out to be grossly underestimated), and that at the current levels of consumption and immigration, the supply could run short within a few weeks, given an excessive dry spell. He predicted a huge exodus should this ever happen, forcing city residents to consider their economic well-being in a circumstance where that connection might not necessarily be made. Secondly, he distributed throughout the city idyllic photographs of the lush, well-watered Owens Valley. Since this Edenic image was the same that had been used to market Los Angeles to the nation, Los Angeles residents were already susceptible to its powers, and were easily convinced that they did not want to let go of the garden paradise they were in the business of developing. The strategy proved massively effective: the issue passed by a ten to one margin." (Forrest, 2002) link to Atlas in previous post

Re: LADWP in Owens Valley, "There it is, take it"
SierraNevada #28484 10/13/12 10:13 AM
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 908
Likes: 2
B
Offline
B
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 908
Likes: 2
Sounds like real estate marketing... Remember, the LA basin was pretty much a desert environment before the Owens Valley water was taken, with a population of about 15,000. Couldn't sell much real estate in a place like that. But Mr. Mulholland fixed that little problem.

And LA is still at it: http://www.sierrawave.net/14670/clean-air-laws/



Re: LADWP in Owens Valley, "There it is, take it"
Bob West #28485 10/13/12 10:40 AM
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,158
OP Offline
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,158
Originally Posted By: Bob West
Sounds like real estate marketing...

The illusory garden of Eden images used to sell LA is to be expected, heck, it's the home of moving pictures. What I find interesting is the strategic manipulation that was used. Mulholland's fabrication of a water "crisis" is very much like the energy "crisis" that was fabricated by Enron et al on the people of CA, sucking billions out of our pockets. It's also fascinating that some people will twist and contort the facts to justify the deception and manipulation part of it. It's as if they enjoy being tricked, or maybe it's just denial.

Re: LADWP in Owens Valley, "There it is, take it"
SierraNevada #28489 10/13/12 03:51 PM
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 595
Offline
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 595
Looks like LADSWP is playing hardball again -

http://www.sierrawave.net/14670/clean-air-laws/

Re: LADWP in Owens Valley, "There it is, take it"
KevinR #28500 10/14/12 08:07 AM
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,158
OP Offline
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,158
Well that's an interesting way to get out of environmental mitigation measures they agreed to in 2006, just sue every local, state and federal agency involved. Who does that? I'm very curious about the basis they are alleging for their lawsuit. Maybe they're claiming they were "tricked" into cleaning up their mess, the largest PM10 source in the US. Now that would be ironic.

The comments at the bottom are interesting.

Re: LADWP in Owens Valley, "There it is, take it"
SierraNevada #28523 10/15/12 04:34 PM
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 1,037
Likes: 6
H
Offline
H
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 1,037
Likes: 6
the obvious solution for the dust storms on the Owens dry lake bed is to fill it back up with water.

Re: LADWP in Owens Valley, "There it is, take it"
Harvey Lankford #28529 10/16/12 08:59 AM
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 908
Likes: 2
B
Offline
B
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 908
Likes: 2
LADWP now claims that their work is done:

http://www.sierrawave.net/14680/dry-lake-clean-up/

Is Mono Lake the next victim of LA?

http://www.sierrawave.net/14705/threaten-mono-lake/

LADWP is following the same old stall and deny tactics they have used for a long time.

Re: LADWP in Owens Valley, "There it is, take it"
Bob West #28653 10/22/12 09:39 PM
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 40
K
Offline
K
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 40
The Owens Valley was not a highly productive agricultural area prior to the water transfer. Yes, there was agriculture in the area, but the growing season was short and productivity was low.

I'm sure there's an argument regarding how equitable the water transfer was when it was done, but it was one of those things that would probably have happened eventually anyway. The health issues that occurred after Owens Lake dried up are a shame, but shortsightedness seems to be a typical human condition most of the time.

Equitable transfers of water rights are not uncommon, and will probably become more and more common.

The Eastern Sierra is what it is.


Link Copied to Clipboard
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.4
(Release build 20200307)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.4.33 Page Time: 0.027s Queries: 38 (0.022s) Memory: 0.6310 MB (Peak: 0.7276 MB) Data Comp: Off Server Time: 2024-03-28 19:46:59 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS