In 1924, Owens Valley residents seized the L.A. Aqueduct in a defiant protest. An event focuses on remembering the troubled chapter of L.A. water history.

In 1924, Owens Valley residents seized the L.A. Aqueduct in a defiant protest. An event focuses on remembering the troubled chapter of L.A. water history.

On Nov. 5, 1913, 40,000 people assembled at the southern end of the gravity-powered aqueduct and let out a cheer when the first Owens River water splashed into the San Fernando Valley.

The Owens River flows from the Eastern Sierras toward the Los Angeles Aqueduct intake. Mae Ryan/KPCC The Los Angeles Aqueduct flows in pipelines in Santa Clarita, Calif.

BIG PINE, Calif. -- Looking out from the banks of the river that once ran through this rugged valley beside the Sierra Nevada range, Mike Prather sees only an ugly heap of stumps, weeds and dried mud.

The aqueduct’s vulnerability strengthened the city’s resolve to consolidate its Owens Valley holdings. By the end of 1926, after another round of buyouts, Los Angeles controlled 90% of the ...

The aqueduct's contribution to Los Angeles has diminished over time, given legal fights over the environment and greater reliance on the California Water Project and the Colorado River. The 338 ...

In this era, the Los Angeles Aqueduct was built to divert water from the Owens River Valley in the Central Valley of California to the city of Los Angeles. William Mulholland designed and ...

On paper, the idea of the Owens River (elev. 3,800 feet) flowing downhill to Los Angeles (elev. 1,200 feet at Upper Van Norman Lake) seems straightforward enough: the aqueduct’s water drops an ...