Tiffany Henschel

Complex Systems can be mapped out and isolated to help simplify an overly complicated story. “Draining Owens Valley” visualizes how the population explosion of Los Angeles at the turn of the 20th century was directly related to the LADWP stealing water from the Owens Valley.

Background / Research

Owens (Dry) Lake bed always reminded me, as I drove along the 395, what sacrifices were made to build Southern California, and how it's affected the (smaller, but just as important) population that's lived there over the past few generations. 

At first, my focus was on dust mitigation: what the LADWP is doing to keep the miles and miles of dust and carcinogenic particulates out of the air (which, for decades, only involved sprinkling millions of gallons of water on the dirt) since they stole the water a century ago. I quickly found out that the LADWP struck a deal with the Great Basin Air Pollution District last year that involved a new, almost waterless method of dust control. Even though it was still an interesting topic, because an agreement had just been reached, I didn't see the excitement or conflict in it anymore. 

I decided to simplify completely, and show directly how Owens Valley drained as Los Angeles filled. I went about it a few different ways (see iterations/versions below), but ended up with a 12-panel timeline from 1900 until 2015. I would like to explore these other iterations I created (shown below) further, because they're different but equally effective.