All About Water

ALL ABOUT

The history of water on Catalina is intricate and interesting, and remains a topic of great importance today and looking toward the future. Even as late as the early 20th century, there wasn’t enough water on Catalina to supply all of the Island residents and visitors with drinking water. In the 1800s and early 1900s there was barging of water from the mainland that was stored in wooden tanks in town to supply water.

“It wasn’t until William Wrigley Jr. purchased the Island in 1919 that he and his general manager, David Renton, recognized the need to develop water on this Island if they were going to grow the Island into the world-class destination that they envisioned,” said Laura Minuto a trained hydrologist and member of the Conservancy's conservation department. In 1923, Wrigley ordered a survey to better understand water source options for Avalon. One of the first areas they focused on was ‘Sapphire Lake in Haypress Country,’ also known as Patrick’s and Haypress Reservoirs, and around Avalon. “Because of its proximity to town, it was one way to harness a lot of the surface flow that was going through this watershed and capture it before it went out to Grand and Silver Canyons,” Minuto added.

Haypress Reservoir and Wrigley Reservoir were constructed around 1932 by Catalina Island Company. If you hike from Patrick’s Reservoir to Inspiration Point, you’ll still see a lot of evidence of catching water at Patrick’s and pumping it to Haypress, including cast iron pipes along the trail. No longer evident is where the water went from Haypress – up to the summit reservoir (Wrigley Reservoir) in a buried pipeline and then gravity fed to the top of Falls Canyon where water freely cascaded to a reservoir behind a dam at the back of Falls Canyon.

“As they were developing this area, they were also looking at other areas on the Island, including Thompson Reservoir at Middle Ranch, which was constructed in 1924,” added Minuto. In the late '40s, Thompson Reservoir was enlarged and became the primary source of water to convey to Avalon, and Patrick’s Reservoir and Haypress Reservoir were decommissioned and left to be available to livestock and wildlife.

Today, Catalina has two reservoirs: Thompson Reservoir and Wrigley Reservoir. There are also 10 groundwater wells throughout the Island, primarily in the alluvial system to supply various areas on the Island and 13 storage tanks. Finally, there are two desalination plants in Avalon, with one constantly in operation producing about 220,000 gallons of water per day.