[History] How does Los Angeles, a large city built on a desert, get its water supply?

The water supplied to nearly one million residents of the city comes from a waterway sourced about 338 miles away in the Sierra Nevada, passing through 142 tunnels, and originating from the Owens Valley, located 233 miles north of Los Angeles.

In the early 1900s, Los Angeles was rapidly drying up. What was once just a small village had grown rapidly. Between 1900 and 1910 alone, the population of Los Angeles surged from 100,000 to 300,000. Due to this rapid population growth, the city had no choice but to seek new water resources.

Over the next five years, 5,000 workers and 6,000 mules were mobilized to complete what is now considered the longest aqueduct in the world. To haul a single 36-ton water pipe, 52 mules were required. This remarkable engineering feat, which pierced through rugged mountain ranges, culminated in the first delivery of water to Los Angeles on November 1, 1913.