Colorado River Aqueduct

The Colorado River Aqueduct, or CRA, is a 242 mi (389 km) water conveyance in <a href="/facts/Southern_California/1CaAWjd2">Southern California</a> in the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a>, operated by the <a href="/facts/Metropolitan_Water_District_of_Southern_California/GbpjCsuM">Metropolitan Water District of Southern California</a>. The aqueduct impounds water from the <a href="/facts/Colorado_River_(U.S.)/yGEJtRAJ">Colorado River</a> at <a href="/facts/Lake_Havasu/8NNIGHuP">Lake Havasu</a> on the California–<a href="/facts/Arizona/6ayM3swJ">Arizona</a> border, west across the <a href="/facts/Mojave_Desert/qWmTVQLg">Mojave</a> and <a href="/facts/Colorado_Desert/ntFJASdL">Colorado</a> deserts to the east side of the <a href="/facts/Santa_Ana_Mountains/VRCJITMG">Santa Ana Mountains</a>. It is one of the primary sources of <a href="/facts/Drinking_water/FmSJcKGG">drinking water</a> for Southern California.
Originally conceived by <a href="/facts/William_Mulholland/JNfX5Lh6">William Mulholland</a> and designed by Chief Engineer Frank E. Weymouth of the MWD, it was the largest <a href="/facts/Public_works/SXrgjojz">public works</a> project in southern California during the <a href="/facts/Great_Depression/5K13wcg0">Great Depression</a>. The project employed 30,000 people over an eight-year period and as many as 10,000 at one time.
The system is composed of two reservoirs, five pumping stations, 62 mi (100 km) of canals, 92 mi (148 km) of tunnels, and 84 mi (135 km) of buried conduit and siphons. Average annual throughput is 1,200,000 acre⋅ft (1.5 km3).

Colorado River Aqueduct open-in-new

Colorado River Aqueduct