Patsiata

Kathy Bancroft

“It’s wonderful seeing Patsiata with all that water on it. I always visualize what it would look like with water. I’ve seen it once before in my lifetime, back in 1968/1969, it was about three-quarters full. But I don’t think I appreciated it the way I appreciate it now, because we’ve worked so hard to try to get them to bring the water back.

The first time I saw it after all the rains, it brought tears to my eyes. It was beautiful, and it keeps growing. That’s what it’s supposed to be. That’s what it wants to be. That’s what I’ve talked to LADWP about for years. If you put water here, you’re gonna get more water.

There’s only a finite amount of water, and if they keep taking it the way they’re taking it, they’re not just destroying us, they are destroying themselves. If they leave some here, it’ll bring more. There’s enough for everybody, they just gotta quit being so greedy.

How can we get LADWP to keep it like this? That’s what I spend a lot of my time thinking about now, justification for keeping water in there.”

Photos by Teena Pugliese