Paper Water

Everywhere we look, the water we see has been promised to someone else. This land has been forever remade and shaped by pipes embedded in the ground or poised above it- lines in the land like a water highway. We are so used to always finding water in the rivers, streams, cascades, waterfalls, ponds, and lakes that we simply don’t see the other complex water infrastructure we are surrounded by, the other forms it now takes, and the power those connections wield.

Paper water is a term used by utility companies and water agencies to describe “water they have access to but is difficult or impossible to access for various reasons.” There is an entire water “stock market” that is invisible and unknown to the public that transports imaginary water around digitally to support future development projects. This term and its implications inspired this mapping project - an exploration of the local water infrastructure and transportation system that moves about 430 million gallons of water south to Los Angeles every day.