'Dream of a big city': Water politics and San Diego County growth, 1910--1947 (California)

In the first half of the twentieth century, local boosters in San Diego confronted a great obstacle to the area's growth: its lack of water resources. Leaders of the city of San Diego therefore strove to control local water resources, but rival users contested the city's efforts. In particular, agricultural and suburban interests disputed the municipality's claim to a paramount right to the waters of the San Diego River. Irrigators and suburban developers battled the city for over a decade in the courts and before federal and state agencies. The leader of these "back country" interests was Ed Fletcher, manager of the Cuyamaca Water Company and a leading developer who wished to use the river's water for his real estate ventures. He also believed water systems should use innovative technology to develop resources at the lowest cost possible in order to encourage agriculture. City officials, on the other hand, believed the region's economic future lay in a strong military presence. They therefore saw little need to pursue water policies based on low-cost irrigation water. Unwilling to make concessions to rival water users, the city pursued litigation and thus developed no significant water resources from the early 1920's until the mid-1930's.; When the local population exploded during the Second World War, local leaders found themselves unprepared to meet the concomitant demand for water. The failure to improve the municipal system during the preceding years helped generate a crisis that alarmed the federal government. While San Diego had contemplated importation of Colorado River water for decades, local leadership remained divided over how to accomplish this expensive task. While Los Angeles-area communities had pooled their resources and formed the Metropolitan Water District to tap the Colorado, strife among rival water users made similar cooperation unlikely in San Diego. With reservoirs depleted, federal officials instructed San Diego to import Colorado River water via the Metropolitan Water District's system. This directive meant San Diego would have to join the district, and it effectively ended the dreams of some local leaders for an independent Colorado River aqueduct.