Aqueducts

Two divers were killed Wednesday as they inspected equipment at a Central California pumping plant that is part of the state aqueduct system. The two, both experienced divers, were performing a routine inspection of the Dos Amigos Plant, which is 10 miles south of Los Banos, next to Interstate 5, when they apparently drowned. "A million and one things can go wrong," said Merced County Sheriff's Department spokesman Paul Barile. "You can dive 100 times and nothing will happen.

A state Court of Appeal panel late Wednesday gave Los Angeles a strong push to move ahead on restoring a 62-mile stretch of the Lower Owens River by upholding a court order that would ban the city from using a key aqueduct if it continues delaying the project.

Earlier this summer, I took a table at an open-air cafe in Midtown Manhattan's Bryant Park and asked the waiter to bring me a glass of vintage New York City tap water. I was celebrating the successful completion of several expeditions along the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail, which lines the eastern side of the Hudson River and has everything to do with the elixir I held up to the light, then drank in one gulp. These days, New York's water comes from a variety of sources.

Two centuries ago, the aqueduct that funneled fresh water seven miles from the mountains to the San Buenaventura Mission was something of an engineering marvel -- a community lifeline built to an ancient Roman design by Chumash laborers under Spanish supervision. Today, the last major surviving chunk of it is being considered for designation as one of the 11 most endangered historic sites in the United States.

Completing the most exhaustive overhaul of the Colorado River Aqueduct in five decades, the Metropolitan Water District began today to refill the system that delivers a billion gallons of water each day to 18 million people across Southern California. Two hundred and forty-two miles of aqueduct -- spanning desert and mountains from Lake Havasu to Lake Mathews near Riverside -- was shut down and drained Feb. 5 for inspection and repairs at a cost of $8.2 million, district officials said.

In a blow to the historic dominance of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California over regional water matters, a judge Tuesday rejected the mega-agency's concept of what is fair compensation for use of its Colorado River Aqueduct.