L.A. has looked elsewhere to quench a constant need. (A Special Report: L.A.'s Search for Water).

IN July 1904, with Los Angeles choking through a severe drought, William Mulholland and Fred Eaton loaded up a buckboard for a 200-mile mule trip.

Mulholland, superintendent of the city's Bureau of Water Works and Supply, and Eaton, a friend and former mayor, were headed to the Owens River Valley in quest of what was said to be an inexhaustible supply of water.

The arduous trip was a last ditch effort for Mulholland, made only after investigating multiple river and groundwater sources south of the Tehachapis.

"He looked from Kern County to the San Diego border in search of water to supplement the flow of the Los Angeles River," said Jeny Gewe, assistant general manager-water at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

What he found at the Owens River, due north of the city near the Nevada border, exceeded his expectations. Mulholland saw in the rich eastern slope of the Sierras enough water to supply 2 million people for 200 years.

The trip resulted in the creation of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, a $23 million project spanning five years and 223 miles. When it opened on Nov. 3, 1913, Mulholland, eager to get home to his sick wife, uttered a five-word dedication speech: "There it is, take it."

His projections proved to be woefully inadequate. In the intervening years, Los Angeles has heeded his imprecation and embraced a decades-long search for greater and greater sources of water.

Insatiable thirst

A century later, Mulholland's aqueduct has been expanded more than a hundred miles north and a second aqueduct built parallel. Los Angeles is sucking water from at least two additional sources, and it still isn't enough.

From the time the city was founded along the banks of the Los Angeles River in the late 18th century until Mulholland's trip, the only thing keeping its population alive was groundwater and water wheels.

By the end of the 19th century, L.A.'s population had reached 100,000 and water was tight. Mulholland's attempts at forced conservation in the 1890s--he installed water meters--were successful but in vain. A steady flow of new residents absorbed whatever was conserved.

Mulholland's aqueduct brought unprecedented growth to the region, supporting a business and housing boom that pushed the city's population to nearly 1 million by the mid '20s.

"He wasn't the greatest engineer in the world, technically speaking' said Bob Phillips, former general manger of L.A. DWP. "But he was enough of an engineer that he could see what could and couldn't be done." Phillips' father, James, served as engineer in charge of the Los Angeles Aqueduct Association under Mulholland.

Within a decade of the opening of the aqueduct, the growth fed by water flowing from the Owens River Valley left the city facing another water shortage.

The trouble was exacerbated by a drought in the mid-1920s, which forced L.A. to start pumping more water from up north. This prompted a "water war," which lasted until 1929 and saw Owens River residents dynamite the aqueduct several times.

With his father, Phillips visited a blast hole in 1927, only to see it patched up a few weeks later. "They never hurt it badly but they drew a lot of attention," he said. 'Which was the purpose."

Though a formal arbitration settled the conflict in 1929, many Owens Valley residents remain bitter. And L.A. still owns about 300,000 acres in Inyo and Mono counties, an area larger than the city itself.

New sources

As early as 1923, Mulholland saw the need for new sources of water and started studying the feasibility of a Colorado River Aqueduct.

This would prove to be far more difficult--and expensive--since there was no obvious route from the Colorado to L.A. and, unlike the Owens River Valley, it was not a straight downhill shot. Pumps would be required to supplement the forces of gravity.

Further complicating the task were the politics of water. To tackle the project, L.A. and 12 other cities formed the Metropolitan Water District in 1928.

With a final route decided upon in 1931, voters were asked to vote for a $220 million bond measure to fund the project. This, too, was no easy task. In the throes of the Depression, many were opposed to the expense.

But Don Kinsey, an assistant to the MWD's chief engineer, mounted a public relations campaign that convinced voters the construction of the aqueduct would help generate jobs.

In contrast to the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the Colorado River pipeline would cost well over $200 million and take twice as long to build.

Flood

One of the many engineering marvels that was a component of bringing the waters of the Colorado to L.A. was the 180-foot high, 600-foot long St. Francis Dam, built in 1926 near Saugus in San Francisquito Canyon.

On the night of March 12, 1928, the dam gave way, sending water powering through the Santa Clara Valley toward the Pacific Ocean between Oxnard and Ventura, 54 miles away.

More than 450 people were killed as the wall of water, said to be 78-feet high at its peak, rolled through Ventura County.

Mulholland, who had inspected the dam earlier in the day, immediately went to the site of the devastation. He resigned from the Department of Water and Power, successor to the Bureau of Water Works and Supply, within days after the flood.

Phillips, who described Mulholland's Irish accent as thick but understandable, saw the chief at the DWP offices in 1935, the year of his death. "He was still very nice--a gentleman--but there was no doubt the dam had shattered him," he said. "He just was not the same man."

The Colorado River Aqueduct opened in June 1941 amid a wet year and a water surplus.

Extending the aqueduct

In 1934, work began on the Mono Basin Project, a 105-mile extension to the L.A. Aqueduct that upped flow by 35 percent, to about 300 million gallons per day.

In the years after World War II, servicemen who had passed through L.A. returned to live here.

The growth was not limited to California, however, and as a result of litigation filed by the State of Arizona against California, Southern California was expecting to lose a portion of the Colorado River rights.

In 1956, the state legislature created the State Department of Water Resources and a year later plans were developed to meet all the state's water needs, including a system of reservoirs, aqueducts and a system of pumps to carry water south.

In 1961, the same year the DWP began investigating a second Los Angeles Aqueduct based on Mulholland's original plans, the MWD entered into a contract with the state water project. Nine years later, the second L.A. aqueduct began delivering more water to Los Angeles.

In 1971, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan turned on the first pump at the A.D. Edmonston pumping plant, a facility that lifts southbound water almost 2,000 feet over the Tehachapi Mountains.

Today, L.A. gets its water from local groundwater and the three aqueduct systems. Conservation and reclamation measures are now the DWP's two highest priorities. "It is cheaper to use the water efficiently than it is to develop new systems," Gewe said.

Still, Central Valley water may be re-directed into Southern California, creating a new baffle between urban and agricultural constituencies. "It will be an issue forever," Gewe said.

A Century of L.A. Water

1902--The City of Los Angeles buys the Los Angeles Water Co. for $2 million. With the purchase comes a new city employee: Superintendent William Mulholland.

1904--Mulholland visits the Owens River Valley and returns to sell the city on an aqueduct.

1913--The L.A. Aqueduct is finished; water is delivered to the San Fernando Reservoir. Mulholland is encouraged to run for mayor.

1928--L.A. and 12 other Southern California cities form the Metropolitan Water District. St. Francis Dam in Saugus gives way, killing more than 450 people. Mulholland resigns.

1934--Mono Lake expansion is begun. L.A. Aqueduct would be extended by 105 miles, increasing capacity by 35 percent.

1941--The Colorado River Aqueduct is finished amid a water glut. For two months, Southern California receives free water.

1960--Los Angeles population grows to 2,481,595 spread over 458 square miles.

1970--The second Los Angeles Aqueduct is placed into service.

1973--The California Aqueduct is completed, redirecting northern water to parched Southern California.

1998--Los Angeles reaches an agreement to divert water back to the Owens Valley lakebed to reduce dust storms.

2000--Diamond Valley Lake.