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<br />I,' <br />c. <br /> <br />~:G2 <br /> <br />FOREWORD <br /> <br />THE mighty tide of population and industry that ha~ poured <br />in upon the coastal plain of Southern California for the past <br />ten years continued in an unabated flood during the year <br />1951-52. With it came a mounting obligation upon The Metropol- <br />itan Water District of Southern California to provide additional <br />facilities to meet increasing population and industrial water needs <br />within an expanding service area. <br />In its monthly summar~' of business conditions for July 1952 <br />the Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles reports that busi- <br />ness activity was at a higher average level during the first half <br />of 1952 than during any previous 6-mont.h period in the history of <br />Southern California. The hank's index of business activity receded <br />moderately in June, but even so was nearly 9 per cent higher than <br />a year ago and 18 pel' cent higher than June ]950, just prior to <br />the Korean conflict. The monthly summary states that total em- <br />ployment in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area established a new <br />peak of 1,995,800 in June, eompared with 1,902,000 in June 1951, <br />and that the expansion of the local economy has been shown most <br />impressively in the rising levels of employment, wages and indus- <br />trial activity. <br />The value of agricultural production in the five counties served, <br />__ ________br__the3ietJ.:opol itaTI-Wa tel' -Distl'ict,--repo.ted--by--the-Los--A ngele, <br />County Chamber of Commerce, amounted in 195] to the record <br />figure of $66] ,000,000, an increase of almost 24 per cent over 1950. <br />Production in 1951 of petroleum and natural gas from the Los <br />Angeles Basin in Los Angeles and Orange counties, reported by <br />the Southern California Gas Company, totaled 125,420,000 barrels <br />of crude oil and ]87,532,000,000 cubic feet of natural gas, an <br />average daily production of 343,600 barrels of oil and 376,800,000 <br />cubic feet of gas. Imports of natural ga' into this area totaled <br />149,636,000,000 cubic feet. <br />The population of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernar- <br />dino, and San Diego counties o'n June, 30, 1952 is estimated at <br />5,740,000. The present population of the Metropolitan District is <br />estimated at 4,026,000, an increase of 9 per cent since 1950. <br /> <br />III <br />