WSP12333 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

.. western states for the protection of such areas, probably to fill the hiatus in the common law. In the east New York in 1905 enacted an important statute concerning areas of origin. California . "Among the western states California has demonstrated more concern for area-of-origin protection than any other. The origin of this concern can, in large measure, be traced to the Owens Valley experience. A drought beginning in 1895 and continuing for nearly 10 years brought a serious water crisis to the Los Angeles region of the state. The City had to find additional water. . Imaginative engineers looked about and settled on the Owens River, then running through the prosperous farming community of Owens Valley, on the east side of the Sierra Mountains, as the most available alternate source. An aggressive campaign to buy water rights in the Valley was initiated. Bonds to finance the project were voted in 1905. Intense opposition developed from Valley residents, many of whom believed that the sale of water rights to Los Angeles would destroy the entire valley economy. Many residents who did not have water rights to sell, or who did not want to sell, argued that the compensation offered by Los Angeles for the water rights would not compensate the Valley for indirect damage resulting from lost jobs and blighted businesses. But neither political opposition nor dynamiting of aqueducts could stop the project. Los Angeles' need for water, its political power, and its money were overwhelming. Ultimately the City purchased most of the land, some 200,000 acres, as well as the water rights in the Valley, and today has a hundred million dollar investment in the Owen-Mono-Los Angeles aqueduct, about 35 million -16-