Unlined section of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, just south of Manzanar, near US Highway 395 in the Owens Valley. (Gann Matsuda, CC BY 3.0)
The complicated legacy of the Los Angeles Aqueduct
Original story by Dave Roos
2023 Wrigley Institute Graduate Fellow Lauren Kelly shines a light on the history of the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct and subsequent “water wars” in the 1900s.
Although celebrated as an engineering marvel for flowing millions of gallons of freshwater from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles per day, the L.A. Aqueduct and its creator William Mulholland leave behind a complicated legacy.
In the Owens Valley, lakes and irrigation canals dried up as a result of the aqueduct, leading to devastating consequences for the local community of farmers and ranchers.
“Mulholland was lauded for his engineering achievement,” says Lauren Kelly, a PhD candidate in history at the University of Southern California, “but I think the way he transformed Los Angeles and fueled LA’s population growth really needs to be paired with an understanding of the enormous environmental and human harm that water extraction has created for over 100 years now.”