escapit

But he has water!

The complex and storied history of California through the lens of its relationship with water. Inspired by the book of the same name by acclaimed author and professor Norris Hundley Jr., the documentary special highlights William Mulholland and the creation of modern Los Angeles by illustrating one of engineering’s greatest achievements of the 20th century, and one of its biggest disasters.

The sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles, at the border between sea and desert, depends upon a vast network of resources from across the western United States. More than any other entity, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) manages this network, pulling water from hundreds of miles north and east in vast canals and wiring electricity from as far away as Utah and Oregon.

The early-1900s municipal water bureaucracy that would eventually become LADWP is infamous for its role in pilfering water from the Owens Valley as part of a real estate coup, dramatized in the 1974 film Chinatown. That episode began the construction of an enormous network of infrastructure projects in both the city and its hinterlands.

Initially powered by a series of hydroelectric plants along the length of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the city now relies on electricity from an array of power plants spread throughout the West: water, coal, gas, solar, nuclear and wind.

In 2018, the California legislature mandated a carbon-free electrical grid across the state by 2045. The following year, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the city’s own commitment to a Green New Deal. A city council resolution was more ambitious still, setting the target of 2035 for a fully decarbonized municipal energy mix. These plans have thrown LADWP’s existing infrastructural works into a state of flux—with effects that reach far beyond the city itself.

For one of KCET’s best series check this out:

https://www.kcet.org/shows/great-thirst-william-mulholland?