AQUEDUCT'S END NAMED CITY HISTORIC CULTURAL MONUMENT.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

Almost 90 years after they began delivering water to Los Angeles, the First Los Angeles Aqueduct Cascades were designated Tuesday as a city historic cultural monument in recognition of their critical role in the area's development.

The Cascades are the end point of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, which brings water to the city from 226 miles away in the Owens Valley, on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada.

William Mulholland, who designed and supervised construction of the aqueduct, dedicated it, including the Cascades, on Nov. 5, 1913, after five years of construction.

On Tuesday, the City Council gave final approval to including the Cascades on the city's list of historic cultural monuments.

``It plays such a critical role for allowing Los Angeles to become what it has become, especially the San Fernando Valley,'' said council President Alex Padilla, whose district includes the Cascades. ``Without a source of water, we wouldn't have had the population growth and infrastructure development and therefore the strong economy and culture that we've had.''

The Cascades - two channels designed to dissipate the energy of aqueduct water flowing into the reservoir - are east of the Golden State Freeway in Sylmar. They remain a working part of the city's water infrastructure, so the historical designation does not restrict maintenance and other work in the area.

The council designates historic-cultural monuments on the recommendation of the city's Cultural Heritage Commission. In the past 40 years, such recognition has been given to hundreds of structures, buildings and sites throughout the city.

The first to be granted was the Leonis Adobe on Calabasas Road in Woodland Hills. Others include the Angel's Flight funicular railway in the Bunker Hill area of downtown, the Towers of Simon Rodia in Watts, the site of the San Fernando Mission and the site of Campo de Cahuenga in North Hollywood, where a treaty was signed in 1847 ending the war between the United States and Mexico.

A list of the locations is available by going online at www.culturela.org and clicking on cultural heritage.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, map

Photo:

(1 -- color in SAC edition only) Water flows through the Cascades, the end point of the California Aqueduct, in the northern San Fernando Valley.

Daily News

(2 -- ran in Valley edition only) Angelenos and others eagerly gathered at the Cascades, the southern end of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, on Nov. 5, 1913, to see the first Owens River water flow into the San Fernando Valley.

Daily News file photo

Map:

Cascades