Water, Agriculture, and California

by **John Harper** » August 22nd, 2017, 7:58 pm

Just finished three good books on various aspects of water in our state. As a native of Southern California (and resident of Fillmore, which lost many folks due to the St. Francis dam collapse) I have always marveled at the waterworks, old railroad bedding, and other features of times long past. Long reads, but well worth it. The King of California is especially interesting if you have no idea what the Central Valley really looked like before the dams.

Cadillac Desert, Mark Reisner, 495 pages
The King of California, Mark Arax & Rick Wartzman, 430 pages
Water and Power, William Kahrl, 451 pages

That's my summer reading list, hope I get an A on my book reports. I'd still like to find something written to describe the siphon pipes and how they were engineered and operated. Not enough technical details to satisfy my search as yet. I know one was blown up in the 1920's, collapsed and re-opened by slow hydraulic pressure, on steel plating that flexed back, wow!

John

by **DarkShadow** » August 24th, 2017, 2:51 pm

I'm a chapter in on Cadillac Dessert.

Perhaps during my flights for work I'll be able to progress some more. But so far, the historical aspect is great.

by **Jimbo Roberts** » August 24th, 2017, 3:55 pm

Water rights have always raised hackles where ever they are brought up.
Whiskey's for drinking,... Water's for fighting !

Jimbo

by **Bernard** » August 24th, 2017, 9:19 pm

Thanks for sharing this. I hope to check out those books soon. I am fascinated to no end by this stuff!
This blog is worth following for a variety of perspectives including posts by Peter Moyle; perhaps California's foremost authority on inland fishes: https://californiawaterblog.com/.
Bernard

by **John Harper** » August 25th, 2017, 7:02 am

DarkShadow wrote:I'm a chapter in on Cadillac Dessert.

Perhaps during my flights for work I'll be able to progress some more. But so far, the historical aspect is great.

The other two books intersect Cadillac Desert in some chapters.

John

by **209er** » August 25th, 2017, 7:29 am

As for the siphon pipes go bout 15 miles north and west of Alpaugh and look around where the canals are. :mrgreen:

09er

by **eleph** » August 25th, 2017, 1:46 pm

William Mulholland And The Rise Of Los Angeles by Catherine Mulholland

by **Sparky of SoCal** » August 25th, 2017, 2:19 pm

eleph wrote:William Mulholland And The Rise Of Los Angeles by Catherine Mulholland

That is a good one. After view of how Mulholland was screwed.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

by **Trootfisher** » October 10th, 2017, 9:53 pm

I would also recommend: The Great Thirst: Californians and Water- A History by Norris J. Hundley.

It's used in many graduate classes and well-regarded amongst water resource professionals.

If you really want to get crazy, there are some books on water resource economics...

by **acorad** » October 11th, 2017, 12:23 pm

John Harper wrote: I'd still like to find something written to describe the siphon pipes and how they were engineered and operated. Not enough technical details to satisfy my search as yet. I know one was blown up in the 1920's, collapsed and re-opened by slow hydraulic pressure, on steel plating that flexed back, wow!

John

My understanding is that the word "siphon" is not really accurate.

They're simply upsweeps of pipe and the upsweep's highest point is lower than the up-stream end of the same pipe.

So the up-stream water in the pipes is higher and it simply pushes the water through the upsweeps that are down lower.

Andy

by **Baughb** » October 13th, 2017, 3:51 pm

I've become torn just a tiny bit with this situation. After reading 2 of the books you mentioned and living in Los Angeles, I just plain hated the DWP and made efforts to not give them my money as best as I can... which in my case means living in Altadena, Pasadena, and now Burbank.

And now in hindsight and many years later, I realize that I may be enjoying the spoils of the water wars in that, IF the Owens Valley was lush with Sierra snowmelt and springs... would it be like parts of so many states where the "best" lands are private and I can't fish them?

So I try to use reasonable amounts of water (my yards are brown dirt..), Spend money in the area, and try to be a most gracious guest. So I guess that's just part of the balance beam we walk.

Bob

by **Trootfisher** » October 15th, 2017, 10:17 am

John Harper wrote:
That's my summer reading list, hope I get an A on my book reports. I'd still like to find something written to describe the siphon pipes and how they were engineered and operated. Not enough technical details to satisfy my search as yet. I know one was blown up in the 1920's, collapsed and re-opened by slow hydraulic pressure, on steel plating that flexed back, wow!

John

Basic siphon design can be found in hydraulics textbooks. There are siphons all over southern California (underground of course). They are actually "inverted" siphons. You might be interested in this 1939 report from the Metropolitan Water District which contains info on siphons used along the CRA, which transports water 242 miles from the Colorado R. into western Riverside County.
http://www.mwdh2o.com/PDF_Who_We_Are/1. ... t_1939.pdf