Water is lifeblood of California communities — but it hasn’t always run smooth in SLO

Water is the lifeblood of a community, especially in the arid West where cycles of drought and flood make planning vital.

The original site of Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa was in the flood plain at the confluence of Stenner and San Luis creeks.

Two location moves later, the Mission was above the flood zone, but as the community grew, more water was needed for farming and domestic use.

A zanja or ditch was constructed in the early mission era by Native American labor which can still be seen on the western edge of Hotel San Luis Obispo to bring water downtown.

Over the years, communities here have struggled between trying to provide water privately or public utilities balancing costs and services.

The Tribune encouraged local businesses to drill wells in 1870.

Later redwood flumes and steel pipes were installed by a private company from Reservoir Canyon, but by the end of the 1920s the city had failed to keep up with demand.

It is taken for granted when it is there, but when things break down many systems fail. Drinking water, sewer systems, business operations and fire protection all need a reliable water supply that can provide in dry months.

The 1930 U.S. Census shows San Luis Obispo city with a population of 5,895 — a fraction of the current estimated population of 49,244.

The city would add a major water source when it tapped into the Salinas Reservoir built in the 1940s World War II expansion of the training facility at Camp San Luis Obispo. Later reservoirs at Whale Rock and Nacimiento would be brought into the city’s water portfolio.

But the city water supply was in dire straits less than 20 years before World War II.

Journalism in the 1920s was more modest. Today a story would include an effort to get comment from city officials, context from previous planning and perhaps input from a third party expert on water systems. Quoted sources would be named as well.

But the paper did have a strong drive to publish community watchdog stories.

The Daily Telegram carried this Aug. 15, 1929:

Force of water is very low: Merchants complain of inadequate supply

Need for an adequate operation of the city water system so that in times of heavy demand the mains can supply the citizens of the city was emphasized again Thursday when business men complained that the pressure was too low for proper use.

At one barber shop, where a water softener is operated, the proprietor of the shop said that the pressure was so low that it was almost impossible to use the plant.

Water from the city water faucets was delivered in a stream no larger than a lead pencil, one of the proprietors said, with the faucet turned on to full capacity.

“The stream I got the last time I turned on the faucet was more like the lead, than the pencil, as far as size goes,” the other partner declared.

Happened Before

The same criticism is being made, as was heard during the last spell of warm weather, when hotel keepers complained that it was almost impossible to get water into tubs in second and third floor rooms, but on Wednesday the pressure was low even on the ground floors.

The water condition, according to hotel men, has been a deterrent to tourists to stop here during the warmer vacation season, and as a result the city suffers a considerable loss each year in the money that would be spent here. If tourists could be sure of a comfortable bath at the end of a day’s ride.

Water is Dirty

Residents of the city, especially in Dana St., also are complaining that the presence of decomposed vegetable matter, from algae growing on the water in the city reservoir, is giving the water a disagreeable color, taste and odor.

Last year a similar situation existed when the reservoir was low at the end of the season, and chlorination was resorted to when the condition occurred.

The conditions are unnecessary, according to merchants and other older residents of the city, who say that there is ample water available for a much larger population than at present living in San Luis Obispo, but that the continued delays of the city administration to provide for the growth of the city, by securing the water, is responsible for the present unsatisfactory situation.

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