[2] It was founded in 1902 to supply water to residents and businesses in the city of Los Angeles and several of its immediately adjacent communities.

It has been involved in a number of controversies and media portrayals over the years, including the 1928 St. Francis Dam failure and the books Water and Power and Cadillac Desert.

By the middle of the 19th century, Los Angeles's rapid population growth magnified problems with the city's water distribution system.

John S. Griffen, Solomon Lazard, and Prudent Beaudry, created the Los Angeles City Water Company, which violated many of the provisions of its lease on the Los Angeles River, including secretly tunneling under the river to extract 150 times as much water as the lease allowed.

As the end of the lease drew near in the mid-1890s, popular support began to build for a return to complete municipal control of the local water supply.

It was not guaranteed that William Mulholland, who took over as superintending engineer after Eaton, would have a position working with the city-owned water system.

Mulholland, who was in charge of the non-existent records, claimed that he memorized all necessary information, including the size of every inch of pipe and the age and location of every valve.

He then intervened with the company's principal stockholder, advising him to accept the city's offer of two million dollars for the system.

On January 17, 1994, the city of Los Angeles experienced its one and only total system black-out as a result of the Northridge earthquake.

The ensuing flood caused devastation to present-day Valencia, Newhall and the cities in the Santa Clara River Valley, taking the lives of some 425 people.

[9] The high death toll was due, in part, to confusion and mis-communication by and between employees of both the LADWP and Southern California Edison, who also had facilities and operations in the area.

[citation needed] The LADWP played a role in the development of Hoover Dam and bringing its energy to Los Angeles.

The LADWP continued to operate the Hoover Dam electrical facility alongside Southern California Edison until 1987.

Water flows from the upper reservoir to the lower during the day, generating power when demand is highest, and is pumped back up at night when excess capacity is available.

[20] LADWP maintains a diverse and vertically integrated power generation, transmission and distribution system that spans five Western states, and delivers electricity to more than 4 million people in Los Angeles.

[18] The Los Angeles City Council voted in 2004 to direct the LADWP to generate 20% of its energy (excluding Hoover Dam) from clean sources by 2010,[21] a goal which was met and exceeded.

In 2013, LADWP announced it would become coal-free by 2025 by divesting its 21% stake in Navajo Generating Station in 2016 and converting the Intermountain Power Plant to run on natural gas.

This difficult conversion has been slowed by budget constraints, the impact on traffic, the pursuit of other modernization projects, and the lingering effects of a workforce reduction over the last decade.

[citation needed] The department recently completed two 230 kV underground projects using an innovative cable technology which does not utilize oil as an insulator.

[citation needed] The 315 megawatt capacity Scattergood Steam Plant (Unit 3) to West Los Angeles (Receiving Station K, "Olympic") 230 kV line is having to be replaced after only 45 years of operations, due to multiple failures within this rather long single-circuit, oil-filled, "pipe type" cable.

[2] The board sets policy for the Department of Water and Power and votes on utility rates, renewable energy projects, and pension tiers for LADWP employees.

Currently, the Board is observing physical distancing measures in accordance with California Governor Gavin Newsom's order for COVID-19 prevention.

Wright remained General Manager until 2019, when he resigned following a raid by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of LADWP Headquarters.

Wright was then investigated and sentenced to 72 months in federal prison for accepting bribes from a lawyer to ensure the approval of a three-year $30 million no-bid contract.

[38] After Karen Bass nominated her, the City Council unanimously approved her for the highest-paying post in Los Angeles government.

Unusually for a municipal public utility, LADWP has been mentioned several times in popular culture, both fiction and nonfiction: Notes