Littlerock Creek Irrigation District
History
Today and Yesteryear
Have You Ever Wondered Where Your Water Comes From?
The Littlerock Creek Irrigation District
was formed on March 28, 1892. It
originally consisted of twenty-five property owners and comprised 2,200
acres. In 1963 the district
signed a contract with the State of California, which gave them access to
water from the State Water Project, and they also annexed approximately
9,000 acres of surrounding lands, which did not have a viable water supply
thus increasing the district to its present size of 11,200 acres.
From its formation until around
1980 Littlerock was largely a farming community growing mostly pears along
with a few peach orchards. In
the early years, irrigation water was a major concern and after a disastrous
drought from 1896-1904, the district started looking at ways to store water
from the Littlerock Creek. In
1916 they built a small 310 foot long submerged dam at the Garcia Cienega
just above the San Andreas fault line but as pear production continued to
increase so did the demand for water. So
in 1919 the district teamed up with Palmdale Irrigation District (now
Palmdale Water District) and hired John Eastwood to design a dam.
Construction began in 1922 and at the time of completion in April
1924, it was the highest multiple-arch dam in the world at 178 feet high
from bedrock to crest, with a crest width of 700 feet.
The cost of $400,000. In
1993, after the State of California Division of Dam Safety stated the
Littlerock Dam needed to be reinforced, the two districts entered into a
contract for construction. The
cost of the reinforcement approached $14,000,000.
Today when you visit the dam as you are approaching looking at the
down stream side, you’ll see the new reinforced dam.
When you get to the up stream side, you will be looking at the
old multiple-arch dam.
With the decline in agriculture and
the increase in residential housing starting in the early 1980’s, the
district saw a change in the type of water it needed to supply going from
raw untreated surface water for agriculture to needing more potable clean
healthy drinking water. In
preparing for this change in water supply systems, the district now has a
total of four deep water wells for residential use and five one million
gallon storage tanks. They also
have in place an agreement with the Palmdale Water District when needed to
take our State Water Project and Littlerock Dam water, process it through
their treatment plant and return it as potable clean, healthy drinking
water.
We
at Littlerock Creek Irrigation District strive to bring our customers the
highest quality water at the most economical rates. If you have any
questions or would like more information, feel free to call the Littlerock
Creek Irrigation District at (661) 944-2015 or attend their meetings on the
fourth Wednesday of each month starting at 7:00 p.m. in their Board Room
located at 35141 87th St. East in Littlerock.
