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Majestic scenery awaits the vacationist in the upper reaches 0/ Lake Mead. 1906, with a population of only 160,000 the Los Angeles River became -inadequate to assure the metropolitan area of an adequate supply of water. It was then that the city of Los Angeles began to provide means for importation of water. It first turned northward, and constructed the Los Angeles Aqueduct, which brings water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains 250 miles away. Although this aqueduct made available water to meet the needs of some 2,000,000 per- sons, yet, the growth of the metropolitan area was so rapid that by 1920 the area was again face to face with impending shortages in its domestic water ;3upply. Everyone realized that if additional sources of water could not be found the expansion of the entire coastal area of southern California would be seriously impeded. The only remaining source of water was the Colorado River. But the river in its natural state was not a sure supply. In order to assure water for domestic usage, as was the case for irrigation usage, the river had to be con- trolled and regulated. It became obvious that the construction of Hoover Dam would provide the necessary regulation of the river. And from the inception of the proj- ect, in the early 1920's, the southern California area became vitally interested in the project as a solution to its pressing problem of domestic water supply_ 38 n 1771 When the Boulder Canyon Project Act was passed by the Congress, 13 of the California coastal cities-Anaheim, Beverly Hills, Burbank, Compton, Fullerton, Glendale, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Pasadena, San Marino, Santa Ana, Santa Monica, and Torrence-combined to incorporate the Metropoli. tan Water District to enable the area to import water from the Colorado River. In 1944 the above cities were joined by the Coastal Municipal Water District. which includes Laguna Beach, thus bringing the total membership of the district to 14 incorporated communities. With Hoover Dam in control of the Colorado River it 'was feasible to con. strtlct Parker Dam 155 miles downstream to form a forebay from which an aqueduct could draw off the needed water. The original 13 cities of the Metropolitan Water District floated a bond issue of $220,000,000 to pay for Parker Dam and the proposed Colorado River Aqueduct. The Bureau of Reclamation built Parker Dam with funds advanced by the district and the district built the aqueduct. The Colorado River Aqueduct was completed in 1941, and today carries 'water over mountain and desert for 242 miles, through tunnels, conduits, canals, and siphons, to distribute it to the homes and industries of southern California. With a capacity of 1,500 cubic feet of water per second or appriximate1y a billion gallons daily, it is the largest single domestic water supply system in the world. The Metropolitan Water District has a contract with the Government per- mitting it to draw 1,212,000 acre.feet of water annually from Colorado River Fishing the modern way on Lake Mead.