Seventy-five years ago today, water from the Colorado River reached Southern California for the first time.
It came via the Colorado River Aqueduct— a massive feat of engineering that took 35 thousand workers more than eight years to build.
Before the Colorado River Aqueduct was built, Southern California was got its water from the Los Angeles Aqueduct, which was completed in 1913.
But less than a decade after water began to flow from that first aqueduct, it was clear that the rapidly expanding Southern California region was in need of a new source of outside water.
Enter the Colorado River.
This 1938 film from the Metropolitan Water District tells the story of the construction of the Colorado River Aqueduct.
The 242-mile aqueduct made its first deliveries to the thirteen cities that originally made up the Metropolitan Water District. Pasadena received the very first flow of water on June 17, 1941.
The aqueduct helped feed the growth of Southern California and today remains as an essential source of water for the region.
Joining Take Two to discuss:
- Jon Christensen, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Senior Fellow, Journalist-in-Residence, UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability