It was 1913 when William Mulholland, chief engineer of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, famously stood at the gateway to the San Fernando Valley and opened the floodgates. “There it is. Take it,” he declared, as water from the Owens River cascaded down the sluiceway into Sylmar. And take it Southern California did – reveling in the abundant, cheap imported water that converted a semi-arid region into a palm-studded paradise and fueled its economic engines for the next century: Verdant green lawns, a booming aerospace industry, swimming pools, Hollywood, sprawling suburbs, tropical landscaping and long showers. Fast forward to today, with Mulholland’s spigot literally shut off: This summer, for the first time since 1913, the Metropolitan Water District does not plan to import any water through the aqueduct to the Valley, due to record-low snowpack in the Eastern Sierra. How is the Valley responding? In this special issue, we take a close look at the impact the drought is having on small businesses, agricultural interests and landlords, among others. Some are hurting, but others are adapting or benefiting in surprising ways. Consider Kitty Connolly, executive director of the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants. The Sun Valley non-profit nursery can barely keep its drought-resistant plants in stock. – Karen E. Klein
