Walters: DWP ‘Cussed and Arrogant’

VOICES-The Department of Motor Vehicles may be the state agency that Californians love to hate – undeservedly, for the most part. 

However, for sheer cussedness and arrogance, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is in a class by itself. 

The DWP, founded in 1902, is infamous for its deceitful acquisition of water rights in the Owens Valley 223 miles north of Los Angeles and the construction of two aqueducts that left the valley a virtual desert. 

For decades, the DWP resisted efforts to restore the Owens Valley – even ignoring court orders – and finally gave in only a few years ago, some 80 years after its original seizure of the water.  (Read the rest.) 

-cw

CityWatch

Vol 13 Issue 16

Pub: Feb 24, 2015

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