For more than 100 years, the Los Angeles Aqueduct has endured earthquakes, flash floods and dozens of bomb attacks as it wends and weaves through the canyons and deserts of the eastern Sierra Nevada.
But earlier this month, record storms accomplished the unthinkable when floodwaters undermined a 120-foot-long section of aqueduct in Owens Valley, causing its concrete walls to crumble.

“We’ve lost the aqueduct!” a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power inspector told his superiors by cellphone.

As he spoke, chocolate-colored runoff and debris undercut the aqueduct just west of Highway 395 and the community of Olancha.