Colorado River Aqueduct

Colorado River Aqueduct
Parker Dam on Lake Havasu where Colorado River waters are initially drawn into the system
Coordinates	34°17′23″N 114°10′19″W
Begins	Lake Havasu, San Bernardino County 34.289894°N 114.172094°W / 34.289894; -114.172094
Ends	Lake Mathews, Riverside County 33.837240°N 117.378098°W / 33.837240; -117.378098
Maintained by	Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Characteristics
Total length	242 mi (389 km)
Capacity	1,600 cu ft/s (45 m3/s)
History
Construction start	1933
Opened	7 January 1939
Location
References

Map of the Colorado River Aqueduct

Whitsett Pumping Plant on Lake Havasu lifts the water 291 feet (89 m) for the Colorado River Aqueduct. 1972 photo.

geles had grown so rapidly that the Owens River watershed could no longer supply the city's needs for domestic and agricultural water. By 1923, Mulholland and his engineers were looking east to an even larger water supply, the Colorado River. The plan was to dam the Colorado River and carry its waters across hundreds of miles of mountains and deserts. In 1924, the first steps were taken to create a metropolitan water district, made up of various cities throughout southern California. The Metropolitan Water District ("Met") was incorporated on December 6, 1928, and in 1929 took over where Los Angeles had left off, planning for a Colorado River aqueduct. (During the same peri, as a hedge against the possible abandonment of the planned Colorado River aqueduct, Los Angeles also undertook an extension of the Los Angeles Aqueduct to the Mono Lake Basin.)

The MWD considered eight routes for the aqueduct. In 1931, the MWD board of directors chose the Parker route which would require the building of the Parker Dam. The Parker route was chosen because it was seen as the safest and most economical. A $220 million bond was approved on September 29, 1931. Work began in January 1933 near Thousand Palms, and in 1934 the United States Bureau of Reclamation began work on the Parker Dam. Construction of the aqueduct was finished in 1935. Water first flowed in the aqueduct on January 7, 1939.

The CRA contributed to urban growth (even sprawl) in the south coast region. Although the CRA brought "too much, too expensive" water in its early years of operation, subsidies (via property taxes) and expansion of MWD's service area brought reduced prices and expanded demand. (Holding supply constant, that meant that the quantity demanded rose to meet supplies.) On subsidies and sprawl, note that it was not until 1954 that Met's revenue from selling water exceed the cost of delivering it; it was not until 1973 that revenue from sales exceeded revenue from taxes. Since about 80 percent of Met's costs are fixed, revenue needs to cover far more than operating expenses in order to pay for all costs.

In 1955, the aqueduct was recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) as one of the "Seven Engineering Wonders of American Engineering".

See also

• San Jacinto Tunnel

External links

• Metropolitan Water District of Southern California official website
• Colorado River Aqueduct Page at Maven's Notebook
• The Colorado River Aqueduct at The Center for Land Use Interpretation
• The Los Angeles Aqueduct at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
• Howser, Huell (January 8, 1997). "Mt. San Jacinto – California's Gold (804)". California's Gold. Chapman University Huell Howser Archive.