Taming a Semi-Arid Land
The semi-arid land which makes up the historic Irvine Ranch has long been a focal point for water development. In fact, our history has been closely tied to the availability, or lack, of water.

In the Beginning
The area's first inhabitants, Gabrieleno and Juaneno Indians, established villages near a dependable source of water and then spread out across the surrounding land on seasonal gathering and hunting trips.

This centuries-old way of life continued into the late 1700s when Spanish missionaries arrived. They drew the Indians away from their villages and oak groves and brought them together at missions, such as San Juan Capistrano. To accommodate these population clusters, the Padres selected mission sites with a careful eye toward water and often engineered elaborate canal and pipe systems. 

Slowly, the Spanish government began granting tracts of land not already in use by the missions. With the secularization of the missions in the early 1830s, the number of grants increased, as did the number of pioneering spirits who petitioned for the thousands of acres of free land. 

Among the hopeful petitioners was Jose Andres Sepulveda, who founded what became the 49,000 acre Rancho San Joaquin. Just how much this rancho depended upon water became all too apparent during the drought of 1863-64, when the land began to dry out and thousands of cattle died. Sepulveda was forced to sell the land, which was bought by three central California sheep men, Benjamin and Thomas Flint and Llewellyn Bixby. In 1866, Flint Bixby & Co. virtually doubled its holdings by purchasing the adjoining Rancho Lomas de Santiago and a long strip of the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. The new ranch, still commonly known as the San Joaquin, now covered 110,000 acres. Soon it was covered with tens of thousands of sheep, which needed and found water.

In 1876, San Francisco financier James Irvine, a long-time backer of Bixby and the Flints, bought out his partners and took over the operation. In addition to running sheep on the land, he also raised crops. After his death in 1886, the ranch passed on to his son James Irvine II (known as J.I.) who continued to cultivate the land.

Early in the 1900s, new and thirsty crops, mostly oranges, were introduced. To meet the increased demand for water, J.I. began drilling wells on the ranch in 1913. AS the acres of orange groves multiplied, J.I. sunk more than 1,000 wells and laid 2,500 miles of pipeline to deliver the water to his fields. When the wells began depleting the groundwater basin, a series of nine dams was constructed to capture the natural runoff in reservoirs. The largest, Irvine Lake (also known as Santiago Reservoir), was built in 1931 and supplied water through the Highline Canal to fields as far away as Laguna Canyon Road.

A Time of Transition
After J.I.'s death in 1947, his son Myford became president of the Irvine Company. The last of the Irvines to head the company, Myford died in 1959. By that time, it was apparent that the pressure of urban development on surrounding lands was going to cause a change on the ranch. More water would be needed during this time of transition.

As the vast ranch land was being transformed into the award-winning, master planned urban community of Irvine, the University of California, Irvine came into being. So did the Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD), which was formed in 1961 under the provisions of the State of California Water code to provide irrigation and domestic water for the expanding community. Shortly thereafter, IRWD's mission was broadened by legislation to include sewage collection and treatment. 

During the first 35 years of operation, the District grew from 39,500 acres serving a population of 300 to nearly 78,000 acres serving a population of 150,000. Today IRWD serves a population of 322,000. Within the boundaries are the City of Irvine and portions of the cities of Tustin, Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Orange, Lake Forest and some unincorporated areas of Orange County. This District also serves the University of California, Irvine; some of the county's major industrial complexes; and agricultural land primarily owned by The Irvine Company.