The Department of Water and Power’s commemorative event celebrating 100 years of the Los Angles Aqueduct might be called good news – bad news. The Owens Valley water literally built LA and left the Valley much drier with no growth. It’s all how you look at it.
Friday afternoon, Los Angeles officials and others planned to head to the Eastern California Museum in Independence to hear DWP officials talk and to munch on hors’doeuvres.
This gala event is apparently the only planned celebration of the aqueduct’s centennial. In recent days, members of the Bishop Paiute Tribe had protested celebrating the aqueduct in a demonstration in front of Vons in Bishop.
Friday, officials of Inyo and LA will meet in a Standing Committee session before they head to the museum where it is possible LA may reveal a special plaque intended for the aqueduct intake.
The Standing Committee meeting will start at 11am Friday in the Supervisors’ Board Room in Independence. Officials will touch on pumping, the Lower Owens River, Owens Lake groundwater evaluation and other issues. They will head over to the museum at 12:30. The event is open to the public and is expected to last for an hour and a half.
Even as LADWP puts on a party face, Inyo County grinds through LA’s continued resistance to accept groundwater pumping realities and Stan Matlick of Bishop points to LA pumps in Bishop as “stealing water,” he said.
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There is an interesting photo of Owens Lake in the Library of Congress available online:
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/pan.6a17701/
The ECM has a couple of good photos as well.
Very nice Photo Bill, thanks .. that lake was huge, it looks like the aqueduct is already built, in that photo.
LOL … they have the nerve to come up to the valley for a day of hobnobbing, eating hors’doeuvres. To celebrate the centennial of draining the Owens valley. Granted, under other circumstances it would be a feat to celebrate it’s 100th. year of existence, but since it came at the expense of draining this valley, it is not so wonderful. Some might not get a warm fuzzy feeling to come rub elbows with the celebrants.
I have NEVER seen a photo of what Owens Lake was, before LADWP sucked it dry. Have you got one handy, Bennett ?
No, I don’t, but I will check with the Eastern California Museum to see if there are any.
BK
See a 1911 Owens Lake full of water here:
http://www.owensvalleyhistory.com/owens_lake_1911.jpg
Will there be a parade down Main St in Bishop? Should we expect to see new clowns in town or just the same old ones we see everyday?
The LA Times is reporting today a “truce” regarding LADWP in it’s water wars in the Owens Valley in anticipation of the centennial of the Aqueduct. They are ramping things up . All the News fit to print:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-aqueduct-20130203,0,7466364.story
Does this mean that we are going to see solutions,stewardship of waters, issues resolved, Water Agreements adhered to and celebrated by all . For joy,for joy. Just give LADWP $5,000,000.00 dollars (5 Million, I had to say it twice), Mammoth Lakes Water District and then we can have a happy dance and toast the centennial with a great glass of H20, paid for by ripped off rate payers of the Town of Mammoth Lakes. They can handle it. They are being currently ripped 14 diifferent ways anyway.
And Mono Lake . Wasn’t there a court ordered agreement/requirement to raise the level of Mono Lake something like 12 feet In 15 years and they have only got 5 more years and 9 or 10 feet to go. I hope my memory and numbers are wrong, because I like agreements and truces and celebration galas .Are we invited?
Fantastic, so there will be a bunch of people that had nothing to do with the initial construction or planning, celebrate and pat each other on the back, when really LA faces the same problems they had before the Aqueduct was constructed (water shortages).
Good job LADWP, and I ask when the crowd of elites finish soaking up the celebration to come to Lone Pine Reservation and celebrate the dry creek bed that once had Lone Pine creek flowing through it.