Los Angeles Aqueduct Cascades — Local services in Los Angeles

The Cascades is the point where the Los Angeles Aqueduct symbolically enters the city, bringing in 70 percent of the drinking water for the community, from the Owens Valley, 200 miles away. Three parallel water courses can be seen on the hill here: the long pipe is the main pipe of the 1970 aqueduct; the open channel is the spillway for the 1970 aqueduct; and the pipe emerging half way down the hillside on the left of the spillway is the original 1913 aqueduct, which is still in use.  On the aqueduct's opening day in 1913, William Mulholland stood next to this pipe and addressed the 15,000 citizens, saying "This rude platform is an altar, and on it we are here consecrating this water supply and dedicating this Aqueduct to you and your children and your children's children-for all time." After this the valve that allowed the water to spill down this last slope, before entering into the water distribution system for the city, was turned, and as the water spilled downslope Mulholland said "There it is Mr....

It's beautiful to look at while sitting in traffic. Fun fact: take a look towards the left side and you'll see the OG aqueduct from 1913!! Really, really cool history here. This is how and why LA exists!! It exploded from 300,000 residents to 4 million!!

This place is unfortunately inaccessible. It is owned by LADWP. It is fenced off and only authorized personnel can access it.

It is NOT a water slide (although us locals wish) and there is no public trail. Keep away! There are sarcastic reviews saying that it's a water slide and that there's a trail: NO....DO NOT TRESPASS.

You'll also notice that there used to be a house or farm/ranch right next door. Look for the brick walls and the sign with the numbers on it. You can see that there used to be a driveway up.

Also, there's a "No Dumping" sign but you can clearly see people have trashed it with mattresses and even refrigerators....

I took noticed of the giant water fall off the 5 shortly after moving to LA over 11 years ago. But what was it? Now that I have a three year old toddler who can sniff out a waterfall 20 miles away, we take note of these huge falls often!

As it turns out, these are The Los Angeles Aqueducts known as "The Cascades". Please note that this is a historical landmark complete with plaque, but it is NOT a "thing to do". I'd recommend coming here, finding the plaque, taking a few pictures, and letting your kids see the waterfalls for a few minutes and then go to the nearby Wildlife Learning Center, just down the road. Or go the other way and visit the Placerita Canyon Nature Center.

These aqueducts are still often in use, but they are of a historical significance. I won't give away the story here... read it on the plaque (or my picture of...