as well until the wright Irrigation Act of 1887 created irrigation districts, special units of local government and given the power of eminent domain, the power to overcome riparian rights by condemnation suits, and the right to sell bonds for the financing of the purchase of water rights and the construction of dams, canals, and other irrigation works (Rawls and Bean 194-195).
As the state became more urban, water again became an issue as the people in the cities needed water while the people in the rural areas wanted to protect their irrigation rights. The Hetch Hetchy controversy developed over the need of San Francisco for water and the desire to convert Hetch Hetchy Valley into a reservoir (Rawls and Bean 295). Even more controversial was the Owens Valley-Los Angeles Aqueduct project to take water from the north to the Los Angeles basin. The project generated interest in Los Angeles and money through bonds for the project, while the farmers and townspeople of the Owens Valley denounced the project and fought against it for decades. The federal government agreed with the city and supported the project, and President Theodore Roosevelt put his backing to the project. City Engineer Mulholland started the construction of the 233-mile aqueduct in 1908 and completed the project in 1913. The project did hurt the Owens Valley because the water was taken directly out of the lower Owens River instead of from a needed year-to-year storage reserv
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