Cadillac Desert--Videos

Marc Reisner, an award-winning author of popular environmental books, also was known for his conservation projects, "green" entrepreneurship, and provocative proposals to solve environmental problems. He is best known for his book Cadillac Desert, a history of the use and abuse of water in the American West. Mark Reisner (1948-2000)

The videos focus on 2 major stories: 1) The Los Angeles water system superintendent William Mulholland’s struggle to meet the demands on the city’s water supply.  2) The dams built on the Colorado River to supply water and hydroelectric power to the southwestern United States. Choose one of these stories; summarize the story using specifics from the films. How does the story help you understand the West as a region characterized by its aridity and by efforts to "normalize" this reality?

Summaries of the videos (from the PBS web site now retired)

Questions to help you focus on issues presented in the videos.

1. Did the Los Angeles area originally have abundant natural water sources? Were palm trees native to Los Angeles? To what extent did the city’s elaborate waterworks allow for or encourage an explosive increase in the population of L.A.?

2. Would the Owens River aqueduct require energy to pump it to L.A. or would it run by gravity? What happened to Owens Lake?

3. How accurate were Mulholland’s predictions of how long his latest water source would adequately serve the city? Why?

4. List some of the problems and setbacks Mulholland faced to acquire sources of water, to build aqueducts to bring water to L.A., and to build reservoirs to store the water supply.

5. What problems did L.A.’s thirst for water cause for people in surrounding areas? How did they react to L.A.’s water projects?

6. What ultimately happened to Mono Lake?

7. Did early explorers believe the Colorado River would be controlled? How many people or cities rely on the Colorado River for water or hydroelectricity?

8. How did the building of Hoover Dam (also called Boulder Dam) and other dams change the Colorado River?

9. (Note: Lake Powell is the reservoir constructed upstream from Glen Canyon Dam.) What was the main reason for building Glen Canyon Dam? Why was it controversial? Commissioner Floyd Dominy mentioned that hydroelectric energy is the only pollution-free energy source. Do you agree?

10. What marked the end of the dam-building era in the western U.S.?

11. Does the Colorado River reach the Pacific Ocean anymore? It’s been said that if any river water reaches the ocean, that water has been wasted. Do you agree?