Promoting the Use of Water

Abstract

are familiar with the current and overworked slang phrase think you Ve got something there ! The Los Angeles Bureau of Water Works and Supply believes that it has something in its program to promote the use of water. In the several years that I have been a member of this Association, the subject has received far too little discussion. I believe that it is a subject which will be of increasing importance in the future. After a discussion of the problem in general, I shall describe our helpful and beneficial plan for the promotion of the use of water in order to increase revenue. The early settlers of California found a region blessed with an ideal climate, fertile valleys, and abundant natural resources. The only element lacking to create an agricultural and industrial empire was an adequate supply of water. Faced with an annual dry period of six months, water became the life blood of the state. Wherever water was applied, the desert was converted into rich and fertile agricultural communities and thriving cities. As the communities developed, the water works organizations were faced with a constant problem of securing an adequate supply of water. Underground and other local sources of supply became depleted and inadequate. It became necessary to preach and practice conservation, even to the extent of restricting the use of water. We still preach water conservation, but it has taken a different form, and today it is manifested in the development of projects which have been, or are being, built, projects such as the Owens River, Hetch-Hetchy, and Mokelumne Aqueducts serving our great cities; and also the Central Valley, Mono Basin, AllAmerican Canal and Colorado River Aqueduct projects. Each of these, although