Water, CA: An Interpretive Dictionary

Nicole Antebi, Duct 2, Watercolor, 2011.

Aqueduct /ˈäkwəәˌdəәkt/ n. a. 1552 Any system of pipes, ditches canals, tunnels, and other structures built to transport water.

Related Events:

1908: President Roosevelt approves San Francisco’s request to hold the water rights for the Tuolumne River, which flows through Yosemite National Park.

1912: The first water flows from the Owens Valley into the San Fernando Valley, providing Los Angeles with half of the city’s water supply.

1913: Construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct and pumping stations is complete. The Owens Valley is slowly drained of water. John Muir and environmentalists lose their battle against the Hetch Hetchy dam.

1933: Parker Dam construction for the Colorado River Aqueduct begins.

1934: Hetch Hetchy’s 150-mile aqueduct is complete transporting water to the San Francisco peninsula.

1994: Owens Lake is now a dry alkaline lakebed due to water diversion to the Los Angeles area. Mono Lake was spared this fate when the California State Water Resources Control Board issues an order to protect Mono Lake and its tributary streams.  Since then, the lake’s water level has steadily risen.

Enid Baxter Blader, Irrigation channel along the Salinas River, Watercolor from the essay, “The American Nile,” in Water, CA 2010.

Ditches /dɪtʃ/n. 1045 A long narrow excavation used to channel water to serve the purpose of industry.

Related Events:

1848: Gold is discovered at Sutter’s Mill, CA. The Gold Rush Prospectors redirect water with ditches. Levee construction begins at the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The California Constitutional Convention directs the Surveyor General to study water management.

1871: Luther and Eliza Tibbets bring two naval seedless oranges to Riverside, launching California’s citrus industry, which relies heavily on irrigation.

1884: Valencia Oranges grown in San Bernardino go on display at the World’s Fair and inspire thousands to move to Los Angeles and California.

1851: Bingham Young, sensing inevitable conflict with the American government, sends disciples across the San Bernardino Mountains where they begin to expertly irrigate the arid basin now known as the Inland Empire. 

1922: The Colorado River compact divides the waters of this wild river among seven states, enabling the widespread irrigation of the Southwest.

Sant Khalsa’s beautiful dictionary page for the term Flood, 2011.

States of Water Jane Tsong 14x22”  gouache on paper with collage, 2011.

Ecosystem Restoration /ˈekōˌsistəәm restəәˈrāSHəәn/ n. The process of returning an ecosystem to a healthy, natural state.

Related Events:

1853: Hydraulic Mining begins to aid in gold extraction. River channels become clogged with debris, which leads to increased flooding.

2000: The CALFED Bay-Delta Program, charged with improving California’s water supply and the ecological health of the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, prepares a plan focused on ecosystem restoration to facilitate the Delta’s dual role as the hub of the water system and home to a wide variety of fish and wildlife, including several endangered species.  The plan attempts to balance the concerns of agricultural, environmental and urban water interests, as well as in-Delta water users, Sacramento Valley farmers and landowners, rural mountain counties, commercial and sport fishing groups and business leaders throughout California.  CalFed’s report on best to allocate the Delta’s limited water resources includes programs water conservation, water reclamation and groundwater recharge be prior to the construction of new surface water projects. To date, none of the projects have begun.

2009: Oregon Senate Bill passed laying the groundwork for the removal of four hydroelectric dams along the Klamath River with the goal of restoring water, salmon and other resources in the Klamath Basin.

Garden  /gär’dn/ n. 1300 An area of land used for the cultivation of ornamental plants, herbs, fruit, vegetables, trees, etc.

California is often referred to as a Garden of Eden or a Paradise. Contemporary housing developments in dry, arid areas entice prospective residents with names like “Bubbling Springs” or “Lakeview.”  In order to sustain this fantasy within our semi-desert landscape, we must garden, creating small water engineering projects to support a vision of pastoral bliss.

May Jong,  Strata: Newhall Pass 23” x 9 ½” on watercolor paper

Aqueduct n. a. 1552 < Latin aquæductus, aquæ ductus, ductus aquæ, conveyance of water, < duc-ĕre to lead, bring. Compare French aquéduc.>  Any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures built to transport water.

Related Events:

1908: President Roosevelt approves San Francisco’s request to hold the water rights for the Tuolumne River

1912: The first water flows from the Owens Valley into the San Fernando Valley.

1913: Construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct and pumping stations is complete. The Owens Valley is slowly drained of water. John Muir and environmentalists lose the battle against Hetch Hetchy dam.

1933: Parker Dam construction for the LADWP Colorado River Aqueduct begins.

1934: Hetch Hetchy’s 150-mile aqueduct is complete transporting water from the O’Shaughnessy dam to the San Francisco peninsula.

1994: The Mono Lake Decision:  Owens Lake is now a dry alkaline lakebed during dry years due to water diversion to the Los Angeles area. Mono Lake was spared this fate when the California State Water Resources Control Board issues an order to protect Mono Lake and its tributary streams, concluding The Water Wars.  Since that time, the lake’s water level has steadily risen.

  (Enid Baxter Blader, from the Introduction to Water, CA, 2010)

Wetlands n. 1743  Under the Clean Water Act, the term wetlands has been defined as “those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas.” (1972)

Related events:

1905: Colorado River Diversion Canals fail, forming the Salton Sea. The accidental sea becomes an important and imperiled southern California Wetland, replacing the over 70% of riparian lands that have been built over in the area.

1962: Rachel Carson writes about the Clear Lake gnat in her seminal work, Silent Spring, in order to prove her argument against the use of DDT.

1972: Federal Clean Water Act is passed, regulating the amount of pollutants that can be discharged into surface waters. This immediately begins to impact the delicate life of wetlands. 

My Watershed, The Ocean and Me Isabelle Duvivier (24x48”) digital print on paper 2006 

Watershed: n. 1803 <The equivalent German wasserscheide has been in use from the 14th cent. As a scientific term, it became common about 1800. The English word, which first appears about the same date, was perhaps formed in imitation of the German synonym> The way in which water moves from high ground forming the drainage system that ultimately descends into a river, river system, or other body of water. Places connected by water.

Related events:

1862: Spring Valley Water Works Company establishes a monopoly on San Francisco Water, advocating for the isolation of water from the landscape.  Cement tubes, industrial waste and walls eventually erase all memory of California’s watershed connections.

1869: First transcontinental Railroad reaches the west. With the advent of refrigerated cars, California begins exporting crops like lettuce, which are made mostly of water.  This increases the need for agricultural water locally.   

Transnational Water. Cynthia Hooper (18x24”) watercolor on paper, 2011.

Trans-national Water  A shared watershed that traverses national boundaries and often leads to cross-border conflict. 

Related Events:

1940: All-American Canal is completed, bringing Colorado River to Imperial and Coachella Valleys.

2009: Portions of the All-American Canal are lined with cement to prevent the leakage of water across the border blocking valuable ground water to farmers and wildlife in Mexico.