The Story of Water

#38; East Bay Municipal Utility District's first film; Original Version. This film is part of the Water Resources Collection and Archives at the University of California, Riverside. Opening Credits and Intertitles: "Board of Directors: George C. Pardee (President); Grant D. Miller (Vice-President); Frank W. Wentworth; James N. Eschen; George Thornton Jr." / "When the well is dry then they know the value of water." / Civic minded citizens of the East Bay, realizing the truth of Benjamin Franklin's statement, formed the East Bay Municipal Utility District in 1923, started construction of the Mokelumne River Project in 1925; less than four years later in 1929 the Project was completed, the distribution system acquired and the East Bay area comprising the cities of Richmond, Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Piedmont, Emeryville, San Leandro, Albany, and El Cerrito was being served with one of the purest water supplies in the United States, all at a cost of $65,000,000 met by bond issues." / "Let us now trace the source, transmission and distribution of the East Bay's water supply." / "Mokelumne River, North Fork." / "Middle Fork" / "South Fork" / "Pardee Dam 358 feet in height compared in size with Oakland City Hall." / "Pardee Dam impounds 68 billion gallons of pure mountain water, which forms a lake extending 8 miles upstream, and covering 2,259 acres." / "Protection is the key note, hence the spillway for diverting flood flows." / "A twenty thousand horse-power plant is located at the base of the dam." / "The two 72 inch needle valves open to discharge water through two of the four sluiceways." / "Camp Pardee houses the operating staff." / "Pardee Outlet Tower diverts water into the Mokelumne Aqueduct." / "Peat land (in Delta Region) and Middle River Crossing. One of three river crossings." / "Operation of the Walnut Creek Pumping Plant increases flow in aqueduct from 40 to 70 million gallons daily." / "Aeration of water before diversion into Walnut Creek Tunnel, one of four tunnels with a combined length of 9.14 miles." / "San Pablo Outlet Tower diverts water through a 2.57 mile tunnel to San Pablo Filter Plant." / "San Pablo Spillway handling flood flow." / "Modern filter plants insure a pure and potable supply of water." / "Orinda Filter Plant." / "Upper San Leandro Filter Plant." / "Five steps are necessary in purification: Aeration, Coagulation, Sedimentation, Filtration, Chlorination" / "Control equipment necessary for operation of filters." / "Laboratory control insures a safe supply." / "One of the 38 booster plants. Water is served from sea level to an elevation of 1500 feet." / "Adequate pressure and supply for emergencies are insured by 17 distribution reservoirs and 58 storage tanks." / "Central Reservoir. Storage Capacity 159 million gallons." / "Piedmont No. 1 Reservoir." / "Piedmont No. 2 Reservoir." / "Storage yards and shops are required for operating the system." / "The distribution system with over 1500 miles of pipe is continually growing." / "Modern well equipped offices carry on the business of the district." / "Thus thru adequate storage facilities, transmission and distribution mains, and modern filtration and pumping plants, coupled with promt and efficient service an adequate and potable supply of the highest quality is available for transportation facilities, fire protection, recreation, domestic use." / "A water supply, with the ultimate development of the Mokelumne Aqueduct that is capable of supplying 2,000,000 people, will meet the needs of a rapidly growing metropolitan area."