Beyond Chinatown: The Metropolitan Water District, Growth, and the Environment in Southern California

By Steven P. Erie

Book Overview

As urban growth outstrips water supplies, how can the global challenge of providing "liquid gold" be met? Mixing history and policy analysis, Steven Erie tells the compelling story of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD)--one of the world's largest and most important public water agencies--and its role in building the world's 8th largest economy in a semi-desert. No tawdry tale of secret backroom conspiracies--as depicted in the famed film noir Chinatown--this fresh telling concerns an unheralded regional institution, its entrepreneurial public leadership, and pioneering policymaking.

Using untapped primary sources, the author re-examines this great regional experiment from its obscure 1920s-era origins, through the Colorado River Aqueduct and State Water Projects, to today's daunting mission of drought management, water quality, environmental stewardship, and post-9/11 supply security. A key focus is MWD's navigation of recent epic water battles: San Diego's combative quest for water independence from MWD and L.A.; lingering conflicts over the Colorado River and northern California's fragile Bay-Delta ecosystem; and the myriad challenges posed by water markets, privatization, and water transfers.

Facing unprecedented challenges, MWD is devising innovative formulas to sustain this improbable desert civilization. Beyond Chinatown concludes by considering MWD's Integrated Resources Plan as a global model for water-resources planning and management, water supply diversification and reliability, affordability, and environmental sustainability. Chinatown's seductive mythologies have obscured MWD's authentic, instructive history and lessons.

Praise for Steve Erie's previous book, Globalizing L.A.:

"This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the politics of Western cities, the politics of urban development, and especially the future politics of cities that are likely to be contenders in the increasingly competitive arena of global trade. . . . Erie's analysis will forever direct us to look first at certain public agencies to begin to understand larger patterns of economic growth in any metropolitan area."--Journal of Urban Affairs

" A] fascinating history of the Los Angeles region's great assets and the forces that drove their development. . . . One hundred years ago, it was improbable that the Los Angeles region would become the 10th largest economy in the world. In Globalizing L.A., Erie explains how that happened and then, fingers crossed, offers lessons on how California's largest and most diverse city and region can keep playing a leading role."--Los Angeles Times

"Referencing an impressive body of recent academic research, Erie argues that world-class seaport and airport facilities confer substantial economic advantages and more facilitating links between local businesses and the global economy."--The Sacramento Bee

"Erie has built a potent political-economy of urban development that recognizes the crucial role of the public sector in mediating globalizing processes . . . and this is a valuable lesson for academics, dockworkers, community developers, and environmental activists alike."--Economic Geography

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804751404
• ISBN13: 9780804751407
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

About Time

It's about time that someone got beyond the misleading notion that water is simply a morality play. The damage done to developing any rational water policy in California by Chinatown, the movie, and Reisner's Cadillac Desert has been enormous. Eire puts the quest for water for Southern California in a historical and policy-making perspective that goes beyond the literary license taken with the facts that have muddied the politics of water in our state. Unfortunately, Eire isn't interested in a good story as Robert Towne and Reisner were and his book won't get the wide reading it deserves.

Water Politics

This is a superb book on the politics of water allocation in the arid southwest. Typical of Professor Erie, the intricacies of allocating this critical resource are analyzed and described in an exceptionally interesting and readable style. A wonderful book.

Southern Californa Water

Erie's book is an entertaining read about the history of the Metropolitan Water District and its role in serving a thirsty Southern California. In California, water and politics have always been inseparable. While Professor Erie's book may rankle some individuals, I found it to be a thoroughly researched and objective book. Certainly not dry reading, I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in California water, history, or politics.

Overdue Debunker

Erie is a brilliant, thorough researcher with a track record that supports the believability of his facts and conclusions. He is too gentle on the San Diego schemers he uncovers in "Beyond Chinatown," but he is a scholar first, and an exciting historian.