"The Longest Straw" -- a film about how L.A. gets its water.

“THE LONGEST STRAW”

A Film by Samantha Bode

How L.A. gets its water, and how we can do better at water conservation.

[Nyerges is the author of “How to Survive Anywhere,” “Self-Sufficient Home,” “Extreme Simplicity: Homesteading in the City,” and other books.  For information about his books and classes, he can be reached at Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041, or www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com.]

Samantha Bode was wondering about how Los Angeles got its water.  When she learned that there’s a 338-mile aqueduct that brings the water into the Los Angeles basin, she decided to walk its entire length to see it for herself.  She and the other producer of the film, Angela Jorgensen, financed it all themselves, with some additional help from Kickstarter, a grant, and other fundraising campaigns. 

At a recent presentation at Patagonia Pasadena, Bode shared her video account of her 65 day journey, a film which she produced and calls “The Longest Straw.”

One of her first experiences involved seeing L.A. Department of Water and Power (LADWP) trucks at Mono Lake, and wondering what they were doing there. It’s because that’s owned by LADWP, and the L.A. aqueduct was built in 1913 to bring water from the Lower Owens Valley to the exploding population of Los Angeles. Today, 5,000 gallons of water flow south every second, and dry wells in the central Valley are one of the many results of the voracious water appetite of the Los Angelenos.

“The Longest Straw”  wasn’t a dry academic presentation of the politics and economics of water, though along the way you learned a lot about water, and water in Southern California in particular.  The film is really more of an adventure story of discovery, from the Cascades in Sylmar at the aqueducts southern terminus, all the way to Mono Lake, 338 miles away.  The film is very personal, taking you along with Bode and her various hiking partners, feeling more like a Jack Kerouac journey of self-discovery.

Bode states that she decided to take this long hike by impulse, and her film shows us how she packed up and got started at Sylmar, hiking north. 

In her first few days of her hike, she passed by the remnants of the St. Francis dam (also known as the Francisquito Dam), whose construction was overseen by Mulholland, who was the chief engineer for the city of L.A. water department. The dam, about 10 miles north of Santa Clarita,  catastrophically failed on March 12, 1928, with the deluge killing an estimated 431 people as the water rushed to the sea.  “The Longest Straw” shows us all the highlights of Bode’s journey, with key points about water along the way.  About 15 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail parallels the aqueduct, for example, and the aqueduct was designed so that it flows entirely by gravity, with no pumping.

As Bode walked north, she hiked though the 130 miles where the aqueduct passes through the desert.

“In the desert, all I thought about was water.  Spending a week in the desert without water makes you in complete awe of the miracle of turning on a faucet,” she explains.

LADWP owns about 240,000 acres in the Owens Valley, including the land where the WWII Japanese internment camp was built at Mazanar. 

Bode describes her trials and tribulations along the way, and the itinerant hikers and locals met along the way, each with a colorful story. From Braley Creek, to Lone Pine, to Independence, we watch her mile by mile trek, with constant commentary on the environment, and the people she meets. We meet tribal members along the way, and ranchers who’ve lives have been affected by the fact that Los Angeles owns their local water sources.  One of the tribal members tells us, “The aqueduct is not a river.  It has just one use – to move water to Los Angeles. A river snakes around, and there are many benefits along the way.”

After 65 days of hiking, Bode arrives at Mono Lake, which is 13 miles long, 9 miles wide, and about 160 feet deep.  L.A. gets about 16,000 acre-feet of water a year from the Lake, depending on the water level of the lake.

If you’re looking for facts and figures about water usage in the city of Los Angeles, you should go to the DWP website, or even Mayor Garcetti’s website.  This film has some of that, but it’s really a close up and personal look at the environmental consequences of what it takes to keep L.A. alive.  Bode constantly points out that the large appetite for water by L.A. residents, and its wasteful use, has consequences to people far away that we’ve never met.  But Bode has met some of them, and is telling their side of the story in this environmental film.

Bode’s presentation includes things that  L.A.-area residents can do in their own lives to use less water.   “We need to cut out some stuff,” says Bode, meaning that some of our wasteful water habits need to stop. 

She shares the names of several of the local agencies which have been educating the public about water frugality.  She shares several steps that people can take, such as recycling household grey water into one’s yard.  She encourages people to plant native plants, and plants that don’t require excessive watering. 

Bode shares some of the ways to save and utilize rainwater, such as inlets in curbs, and simply collecting rainwater in buckets (with lids) for landscape use.  An average rooftop of 1000 square feet has the potential to divert up to 3000 gallons of water fairly quickly in a storm, assuming you have the means to collect it. 

According to The Longest Straw website, “With Samantha's inquisitive perspective as a window into this controversial topic, we learn much about the experience of diverse groups such as the Paiute-Shoshone people, cattle ranchers, ecologists, hikers, residents, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.  By working together, humanity can ensure the future of reliable freshwater for all.”

For more information about Bode’s educational efforts, you can go to www.thelongeststraw.com.