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EspañolLOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF WATER AND POWER
The 'Los Angeles Department of Water and Power' (LADWP) is the largest municipal utility in the United States, serving 3.9 million residents in 2006. It was founded in 1902 to deliver water and electricity supplies to residents and businesses in Los Angeles. The LADWP receives no tax support, and contributes about $190 million annually to the City of Los Angeles. William Mulholland was the first director. It is the principal land owner in the Owens Valley.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, Los Angeles's population grew and magnified the problems with the city’s water system. At the time the system of ditches, which were uncovered and often polluted, was reasonably effective at supplying water to agriculture, but was not suitable to providing water to homes. In 1853, the city council rejected a closed-pipe system that would serve homes directly as "excessive."[1] As a solution, the city allowed "water carriers with jugs and horse-drawn wagons…to serve the city’s domestic [water] needs". It took until 1857 for the council to realize that the system needed to be updated and to give William G. Dryden franchise rights to provide homes with water through an underground water main system. This system, however, only served a small number of homes, using wooden pipes that were unreliable. In December 1861, heavy rains destroyed the system and caused Dryden to give up his franchise rights. The city attempted contracting out water rights to others, but none of the systems that resulted from these contracts were successful.
The city’s unsuccessful attempts to allow others to develop a water system on its behalf prompted that council to relinquish its rights to the water in the Los Angeles River in 1868. The council’s decision to give up its water rights benefited John S. Griffen, Solomon Lazard and Prudent Beaudry, three already successful businessmen, at the expense of the city of Los Angeles. The three men created The Los Angeles City Water Company, which violated so many of the provisions of its lease on the Los Angeles River — most significantly secretly tunneling under the river to extract 150 times as much water as the lease allowed for — that in the mid-1890s, as the end on the lease drew near, “popular support began to build for a return to complete municipal control of the local water supply”.[2]
The leader in the fight to end private control of the water supply was Fred Eaton. Eaton proposed that the tax revenues would enable the city of Los Angeles to provide water to its residents without charging them for the use of water directly. Eaton’s views were especially powerful because of “his distinguished record of achievement rendered in both the private and public sector”. During Eaton’s nine-year term as the superintending engineer of the Los Angeles City Water Company he headed a large expansion of the company’s water system. Eaton left his position in 1886 when he was elected city engineer. In his new public position Eaton devoted his time to the updating and expansion of the sewer system. Eaton felt that the Los Angeles City Water Company was not serving the citizens of Los Angeles in the best way possible because of high rates and the fact the company frequently paid dividends to its stockholders instead of improving the water system. In early 1897 city engineers began creating plans for an updated water system while the city council informed the Los Angeles City Water Company that its lease would not be renewed beyond its expiration date, July 21, 1898. In early 1898 the city began talks with the Los Angeles City Water Company about taking over the company’s current water system.
Throughout the negotiations it became clear that it was necessary for the current senior employees of the Los Angeles City Water Company to keep their jobs in order to ensure that the water system could continue to operate. It was not guaranteed, however, that William Mulholland, Eaton’s protégé and the man who took over the job of superintending engineer when Eaton was elected city engineer, would have a position working with the city-owned water system. Mulholland was not popular with city officials because he did not produce any records that city requested during negotiations. Near the end of the talks between the city and the water company it was discovered the neither the records the city had requested nor a map of the water system existed. Mulholland, who was never a fan of paperwork and who was supposed to be in charge of the non-existent records, claimed that he had memorized all of the necessary information, including “the size of every inch of pipe and the age and location of every valve”.[3] Mulholland secured a job with the city when he successfully demonstrated his ability to recall the information. Once Mulholland was assured a job with the city he “promptly intervened with the company’s principal stockholder, advising him to accept the city’s offer of two million dollars for the system”.
The LADWP first offered municipal electricity in 1917, when the San Francisquito Power Plant began generating electricity. It ultimately produced 70.5 megawatts and is still in operation in 2004, producing 44.5 megawatts.
In 1928 the St. Francis Dam, built and operated by the LADWP, collapsed catastrophically due to its east flank being unwittingly founded on an active landslide by chief engineer William Mulholland. 450 people died in the immediate vicinity, but the overall death toll was mitigated by prompt warnings sent to downriver communities in the Santa Clara River Valley, including Fillmore, Santa Paula, and San Buenaventura. From the wreckage of the dam collapse rose the modern field of geological engineering, but Mulholland nevertheless took full responsibility for the disaster and its pall continued to hang over him until his death in 1935.
The LADWP is a leading actor in the struggle over access to water from the Owens Valley. This history, including the initial acquisition of water rights, as well as Mono Lake, and Owens Lake issues, are covered in the article titled "''California Water Wars''", and most aspects of LADWP history in the Owens Valley are handled there.
The LADWP and William Mulholland played a key role in the development of Hoover Dam and bringing its energy to Los Angeles. The LADWP continued to operate the Hoover Dam Electrical facility up until 1987.
On January 17, 1994, the City of Los Angeles experienced its one and only total system black-out as a result of the Northridge Earthquake. Remarkably, much of the power was restored within only a few hours.
The California power crisis of 2001 had very little impact on the citizens of Los Angeles due to the LADWP's cautious approach to deregulation.
The LADWP maintains generating capacity (7,050 megawatts) in excess of the peak demand within Los Angeles (5,400 megawatts). It provides this surplus electricity to other utilities, selling 23 million megawatt-hours in 2003. The LADWP operates four natural gas-fired generators within city boundaries, which account for a quarter of capacity. It receives half of its electricity from coal-fired plants in Utah, Arizona, and Nevada, and because of that is considered one of the dirtiest public-owned utilities in the country. A further 12% is nuclear, It also receives about 12% of its electricity from hydropower, most coming from Hoover Dam over 266 miles (428 km) of and the rest coming from the aqueduct system itself. The Los Angeles City Council voted in 2004 to direct the LADWP to generate 20% of its energy (excluding Hoover Dam) from clean sources by 2017. Pilot projects include wind turbines, fuel cell power plants, and solar power.
The LADWP provided more than 200 billion US gallons (760,000,000 m³) of water in 2003, through 7,226 miles (11,629 km) of pipe. In fiscal year 2004-2005, 48% of the water came from the Sierra Nevada via the Los Angeles Aqueduct. 11% was from groundwater, a local resource that is actively managed and allocated. The groundwater is continually being threatened by chemical pollution, such as MTBE and perchlorates. 41% came from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which transports water from the California Aqueduct and Colorado River Aqueduct. 1% came from recycled water, and was used for irrigation, recreation, and industrial purposes. The use of water from specific sources can vary greatly from year to year.
The prospect of increased demand, along with reduced supply from the Mono and Owens basins, is causing the LADWP look into a number of new water sources, including a new direct connection to the California Aqueduct, increased use of recycled water, and possibly a desalination plant in Playa del Rey.
Because Los Angeles is older than most cities in California, the LADWP is currently faced by several unique issues. Most of the power lines in Los Angeles were built above-ground before it became customary to run power lines below-ground; as a result, the horizon line of the typical Los Angeles boulevard looks much more cluttered than boulevards in most Southern California cities. LADWP has been continuing a long-term project to convert overhead power lines to underground. This difficult conversion has been slowed by budget constraints, the impact on traffic, the pursuit of other modernization projects, and the lingering effects of a workforce reduction over the last decade.
Another issue is that many of the old pipelines are beginning to wear out, or are at capacity and are insufficient to handle future demand. LADWP has undertaken pipeline replacement projects on many L.A. boulevards, like Exposition and Olympic; but the necessary lane closings have only worsened the city's chronic traffic congestion.
1. Water and Power: The Conflict over Los Angeles’ Water Supply in the Owens Valley, , William L., Kahrl, University of California Press, 1982,
2. Water and Power: The Conflict over Los Angeles’ Water Supply in the Owens Valley, , William L., Kahrl, University of California Press, 1982,
3. Water and Power: The Conflict over Los Angeles’ Water Supply in the Owens Valley, , William L., Kahrl, University of California Press, 1982,
★ LADWP Home Page
★ Mono Lake Committee (won Mono Lake protection from excessive LADWP water diversions)
★ Owens Valley Committee (sued LADWP over water)
| Contents |
| Privately owned predecessor |
| History |
| Current operations |
| References |
| External links |
Privately owned predecessor
In the middle of the nineteenth century, Los Angeles's population grew and magnified the problems with the city’s water system. At the time the system of ditches, which were uncovered and often polluted, was reasonably effective at supplying water to agriculture, but was not suitable to providing water to homes. In 1853, the city council rejected a closed-pipe system that would serve homes directly as "excessive."[1] As a solution, the city allowed "water carriers with jugs and horse-drawn wagons…to serve the city’s domestic [water] needs". It took until 1857 for the council to realize that the system needed to be updated and to give William G. Dryden franchise rights to provide homes with water through an underground water main system. This system, however, only served a small number of homes, using wooden pipes that were unreliable. In December 1861, heavy rains destroyed the system and caused Dryden to give up his franchise rights. The city attempted contracting out water rights to others, but none of the systems that resulted from these contracts were successful.
The city’s unsuccessful attempts to allow others to develop a water system on its behalf prompted that council to relinquish its rights to the water in the Los Angeles River in 1868. The council’s decision to give up its water rights benefited John S. Griffen, Solomon Lazard and Prudent Beaudry, three already successful businessmen, at the expense of the city of Los Angeles. The three men created The Los Angeles City Water Company, which violated so many of the provisions of its lease on the Los Angeles River — most significantly secretly tunneling under the river to extract 150 times as much water as the lease allowed for — that in the mid-1890s, as the end on the lease drew near, “popular support began to build for a return to complete municipal control of the local water supply”.[2]
The leader in the fight to end private control of the water supply was Fred Eaton. Eaton proposed that the tax revenues would enable the city of Los Angeles to provide water to its residents without charging them for the use of water directly. Eaton’s views were especially powerful because of “his distinguished record of achievement rendered in both the private and public sector”. During Eaton’s nine-year term as the superintending engineer of the Los Angeles City Water Company he headed a large expansion of the company’s water system. Eaton left his position in 1886 when he was elected city engineer. In his new public position Eaton devoted his time to the updating and expansion of the sewer system. Eaton felt that the Los Angeles City Water Company was not serving the citizens of Los Angeles in the best way possible because of high rates and the fact the company frequently paid dividends to its stockholders instead of improving the water system. In early 1897 city engineers began creating plans for an updated water system while the city council informed the Los Angeles City Water Company that its lease would not be renewed beyond its expiration date, July 21, 1898. In early 1898 the city began talks with the Los Angeles City Water Company about taking over the company’s current water system.
Throughout the negotiations it became clear that it was necessary for the current senior employees of the Los Angeles City Water Company to keep their jobs in order to ensure that the water system could continue to operate. It was not guaranteed, however, that William Mulholland, Eaton’s protégé and the man who took over the job of superintending engineer when Eaton was elected city engineer, would have a position working with the city-owned water system. Mulholland was not popular with city officials because he did not produce any records that city requested during negotiations. Near the end of the talks between the city and the water company it was discovered the neither the records the city had requested nor a map of the water system existed. Mulholland, who was never a fan of paperwork and who was supposed to be in charge of the non-existent records, claimed that he had memorized all of the necessary information, including “the size of every inch of pipe and the age and location of every valve”.[3] Mulholland secured a job with the city when he successfully demonstrated his ability to recall the information. Once Mulholland was assured a job with the city he “promptly intervened with the company’s principal stockholder, advising him to accept the city’s offer of two million dollars for the system”.
History
The LADWP first offered municipal electricity in 1917, when the San Francisquito Power Plant began generating electricity. It ultimately produced 70.5 megawatts and is still in operation in 2004, producing 44.5 megawatts.
In 1928 the St. Francis Dam, built and operated by the LADWP, collapsed catastrophically due to its east flank being unwittingly founded on an active landslide by chief engineer William Mulholland. 450 people died in the immediate vicinity, but the overall death toll was mitigated by prompt warnings sent to downriver communities in the Santa Clara River Valley, including Fillmore, Santa Paula, and San Buenaventura. From the wreckage of the dam collapse rose the modern field of geological engineering, but Mulholland nevertheless took full responsibility for the disaster and its pall continued to hang over him until his death in 1935.
The LADWP is a leading actor in the struggle over access to water from the Owens Valley. This history, including the initial acquisition of water rights, as well as Mono Lake, and Owens Lake issues, are covered in the article titled "''California Water Wars''", and most aspects of LADWP history in the Owens Valley are handled there.
The LADWP and William Mulholland played a key role in the development of Hoover Dam and bringing its energy to Los Angeles. The LADWP continued to operate the Hoover Dam Electrical facility up until 1987.
On January 17, 1994, the City of Los Angeles experienced its one and only total system black-out as a result of the Northridge Earthquake. Remarkably, much of the power was restored within only a few hours.
The California power crisis of 2001 had very little impact on the citizens of Los Angeles due to the LADWP's cautious approach to deregulation.
Current operations
The LADWP maintains generating capacity (7,050 megawatts) in excess of the peak demand within Los Angeles (5,400 megawatts). It provides this surplus electricity to other utilities, selling 23 million megawatt-hours in 2003. The LADWP operates four natural gas-fired generators within city boundaries, which account for a quarter of capacity. It receives half of its electricity from coal-fired plants in Utah, Arizona, and Nevada, and because of that is considered one of the dirtiest public-owned utilities in the country. A further 12% is nuclear, It also receives about 12% of its electricity from hydropower, most coming from Hoover Dam over 266 miles (428 km) of and the rest coming from the aqueduct system itself. The Los Angeles City Council voted in 2004 to direct the LADWP to generate 20% of its energy (excluding Hoover Dam) from clean sources by 2017. Pilot projects include wind turbines, fuel cell power plants, and solar power.
The LADWP provided more than 200 billion US gallons (760,000,000 m³) of water in 2003, through 7,226 miles (11,629 km) of pipe. In fiscal year 2004-2005, 48% of the water came from the Sierra Nevada via the Los Angeles Aqueduct. 11% was from groundwater, a local resource that is actively managed and allocated. The groundwater is continually being threatened by chemical pollution, such as MTBE and perchlorates. 41% came from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which transports water from the California Aqueduct and Colorado River Aqueduct. 1% came from recycled water, and was used for irrigation, recreation, and industrial purposes. The use of water from specific sources can vary greatly from year to year.
The prospect of increased demand, along with reduced supply from the Mono and Owens basins, is causing the LADWP look into a number of new water sources, including a new direct connection to the California Aqueduct, increased use of recycled water, and possibly a desalination plant in Playa del Rey.
Because Los Angeles is older than most cities in California, the LADWP is currently faced by several unique issues. Most of the power lines in Los Angeles were built above-ground before it became customary to run power lines below-ground; as a result, the horizon line of the typical Los Angeles boulevard looks much more cluttered than boulevards in most Southern California cities. LADWP has been continuing a long-term project to convert overhead power lines to underground. This difficult conversion has been slowed by budget constraints, the impact on traffic, the pursuit of other modernization projects, and the lingering effects of a workforce reduction over the last decade.
Another issue is that many of the old pipelines are beginning to wear out, or are at capacity and are insufficient to handle future demand. LADWP has undertaken pipeline replacement projects on many L.A. boulevards, like Exposition and Olympic; but the necessary lane closings have only worsened the city's chronic traffic congestion.
References
1. Water and Power: The Conflict over Los Angeles’ Water Supply in the Owens Valley, , William L., Kahrl, University of California Press, 1982,
2. Water and Power: The Conflict over Los Angeles’ Water Supply in the Owens Valley, , William L., Kahrl, University of California Press, 1982,
3. Water and Power: The Conflict over Los Angeles’ Water Supply in the Owens Valley, , William L., Kahrl, University of California Press, 1982,
External links
★ LADWP Home Page
★ Mono Lake Committee (won Mono Lake protection from excessive LADWP water diversions)
★ Owens Valley Committee (sued LADWP over water)
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