The story of the state and especially of the Los Angeles area is the story of water. Since its founding as a Spanish pueblo in 1781, Los Angeles has engaged in a relentless pursuit for more water, even before it was needed, in support of its ever-growing population and economy. Water and the growth that it supports have been the driving forces behind the development of this semiarid land, for land without water is worth little, and land with water is worth a great deal. It is only because of the foresight and hard work of the visionaries who were...

The almost total development of the Los Angeles Area was made possible only because of three giant aqueduct systems, built at public expense, that bring water from hundreds of miles away. The area continues to be dependent also on local rainwater and groundwater for about a third of its water supply. This chapter quickly reviews local surface water, groundwater, and the three aqueduct systems that import water to the Los Angeles Area, the reliability of each source, and the environmental and/or water quality constraints that apply to each. These are the sources on which the Los Angeles Area depends for...

The California water world is highly fragmented. The Los Angeles Area has hundreds of water agencies with many different management structures, different combinations of sources of water, different ways of operating, and different points of view toward being efficient. Almost all of these agencies are unknown to the general public. People turn on the tap when desired and get a bill at the end ofthe month, and that is where their interest ends. Ifwe are to understand how water is delivered, managed, used, and even misused, we must understand these agencies and the interrelationships between and among them. Without knowing...

The biggest and best source ofnewwater, the one most people believe to be the most cost effective, the cheapest, the most readily available, and the most secure method ofsupplying the Los Angeles Area and the state with water to meet the needs ofour growing population, is to use our local water resources much more efficiently. Efficiencies include conservation, reclamation and reuse (which is considered a new water supply by some), conjunctive use ofsurface water and groundwater, watershed management, which includes better utilization of stormwater, the development of a landscape ethic, and better management ofour dams and spreading grounds,...

Maintaining and managing an adequate supply of water for its growing population is not the only water challenge facing the Los Angeles Area. Ensuring the quality of water in such a highly urbanized region is itself a formidable task. Many of the industrial, commercial, and private activities associated with a large city can easily contaminate local surface water and groundwater, causing adverse health effects and a reduction in supply. Large areas of groundwater in the Los Angeles Area are contaminated-from both natural sources and man-made causes. Some of these areas are so seriously contaminated that they have been designated as...

In this final chapter, an attempt is made to integrate our regional issues into a broader statewide context. We face many uncertainties that must be examined, such as population growth, water use projections, and climate change. The projections made by various agencies to determine future water need are highly variable, depending on their assumptions and who is doing the forecasting.

Then, after a quick review of the shortfalls from each of our water sources, an examination ofhow the state is doing with all of the efficiencies described in Chapter 3 teaches us that the rest of the state has a...