death_date ethnicity birth_date alt education death_place image_size image employer citizenship name occupation caption resting_place years_active birth_place known_for successor article_title birth_name
22 july 1935 irish 11 september 1855 photograph of william mulholland in 1924 o'connell school los angeles , california 225px william-mulholland-in-1924 . jpg bureau of water works and supply american william mulholland civil engineer -lrb- 1924 -rrb- forest lawn memorial park cemetery , glendale , california 1878-1929 belfast , ireland building the water system of los angeles harvey van norman william mulholland
 william mulholland
william mulholland

william mulholland -lrb- september 11 , 1855 -- july 22 , 1935 -rrb- was the head of a predecessor to the los angeles department of water and power .
he was responsible for building the city water infrastructure and providing a water supply that allowed the city to grow into one of the largest in the world .
mulholland designed and supervised the building of the los angeles aqueduct , a - long system to move water from owens valley to the san fernando valley .
the creation and operation of the aqueduct led to the disputes known as the california water wars .
in march 1928 , mulholland 's career came to an end when the st. francis dam failed just over 12 hours after he and his assistant gave it a safety inspection .
