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Santa Barbara’s water has a rich history, a complex future

Posted by: Maven on March 18, 2010 at 4:47 am

mission damFrom Noozhawk:

“In Santa Barbara, European civilization planted its roots with the Mission, and not surprisingly, the Mission figured in the community’s first large-scale development of water resources.

Today, a hike up Mission Creek from the Mission’s basilica yields a treasure trove of mostly intact — albeit nonfunctioning — water infrastructure built by the Franciscan padres. Near the Mission’s gardens, there’s the Lower Reservoir, a diversion of Mission Creek (then called Pedregosa Creek) that supplied water to homes and agriculture around the Mission. Farther upstream, the padres, using Chumash labor, built Mission Dam, which at the time was said to have held a reservoir about 20 feet deep and 100 yards long. Although the reservoir, amid what is today the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, has long since silted in, the 110-foot wide, 23-foot high (on the downstream side), 18-foot thick dam still stands, and is regularly traversed by the garden’s visitors. … “

Read more from Noozhawk by clicking here.

March 18, 2010 · Filed Under Southern California

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