Metropolitan Water District's Aqueduct is one of the longest continuously published public agency magazine in the nation. The first issue rolled off the press in 1934, and for the next six decades, it chronicled Metropolitan's mission of providing adequate and reliable supplies of high-quality drinking water to the residents living in its six-county service area.

The magazine's first name change came in 1994 when it became Aqueduct 2000. It is now ready to take on its next challenge under a new name of Aqueduct³.

The name change just scratches the surface.

With this issue, Aqueduct³ becomes a quarterly online publication that will be available on Metropolitan's home page (www.mwdh2o.com) and will feature news, analysis and opinion of the water issues facing Southern California. We will print a Spring and Fall issue as an added way to keep our readers informed of the year's water news. We hope you will find our new online publication even more informative and interesting than you have in the past.

With 65 years of history behind it, the name change wasn't taken lightly. The number 3 is a symbolic digit in the history of California water, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and Aqueduct magazine.

Aqueduct cubed (to the third power) is a clever celebration of the ironic threesomes that constitute water, even including the essence of water itself-two hydrogen molecules and one of oxygen.

Among the many coincidences that Aqueduct³ symbolizes, these are the top 10:

1. California's three water using regions

Northern California

The Central Valley

Southern California

2. The state's three competing water users

Agriculture

The environment

Cities

3. Southern California's three regional water management priorities

Water Quality

Water Reliability

Fairness

4. Three categories of water supply

Imported

Surface storage

Groundwater

5. The three aqueducts that bring water to Southern California

Colorado River Aqueduct

State Water Project

Los Angeles Aqueduct System

6. Three ways Southern California stretches its water supplies

Conservation

Reclamation

Water Marketing

7. The evolution of the Metropolitan Water District from

Construction company to

Water importer to

Regional water manager

8. The evolution of the magazine itself

Aqueduct

Aqueduct 2000

Aqueduct³

9. The three mediums in which Metropolitan's new magazine will present information

Print

Online

Video

10. And finally, Metropolitan's three permanent headquarters

Million Dollar Theater

Sunset Headquarters

Union Station

We hope you will continue to look to our new magazine, both the online version as well as the printed editions, as your source of information on California water issues. Although our format has changed, we will continue to provide our readers with articles that present in an easy-reading manner the issues affecting water supply reliability, quality and cost in California.

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