Julian B. Hinds (1881-1977) was Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s general manager and chief engineer from 1941-1951, but began work on the Colorado River Aqueduct in 1929 soon after the district was organized. He also was involved in construction of dams across the West, including Elephant Butte Dam in New Mexico and Santa Felicia Dam in Ventura County.

Born and educated in Texas, Hinds began his civil engineering career designing concrete railroad bridges before moving to the Bureau of Reclamation in 1910 to work on irrigation and dam projects. Among his projects was the Elephant Butte Dam in New Mexico, the largest irrigation dam in the world at the time of its completion in 1916. He later was assigned to Reclamation’s engineering office in Denver, Colorado, where he rose to assistant chief designing engineer, directing plans for various Reclamation projects throughout the West.

Hinds left Reclamation in 1926 to design irrigation projects in Mexico before joining the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in 1929. There, he began some of the initial design work on the Colorado River Aqueduct. The following year, he moved to Metropolitan Water District of Southern California as chief designing engineer when the newly formed district took over the aqueduct studies. In 1932, as construction of the aqueduct was getting underway, Hinds became assistant administrator of the project.

Hinds was named Metropolitan’s chief engineer and general manager in 1941 as construction of the aqueduct was completed. During his tenure as general manager, the district extended service to San Diego County and some other outlying areas. He retired in 1951 at the age of 70.

An excerpt from a district resolution honoring Hinds stated that from the time he joined Metropolitan until his retirement, “his engineering genius was successively dedicated to the conception, design, construction and management of this unprecedented aqueduct project, extending hundreds of miles from the Colorado River to the coastal plain of Southern California.” The western-most of the five pumping plants along the Colorado River Aqueduct was renamed the Julian Hinds Pumping Plant in his honor.

After leaving Metropolitan, Hinds joined the United Water Conservation District in Oxnard as general manager and chief engineer to direct the construction of Santa Felicia Dam. Upon the dam’s completion in 1955, Hinds left the district and became a consultant, doing engineering work on projects across the West including aspects of California’s State Water Project.

Updated February 2026