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ByBrianMelley The Associated Press OLANCHA Waterintheaq- ueduct that helped fuel Los Angeles' growth was flow- ing toward the city Wednes- day for the first time in six months after workers re- moved an earthen and con- crete dam that had diverted runoff to the parched Ow- ens Valley. With little mountain runoff due to a historic drought, water managers made the unprecedented decision to try to meet le- gal obligations to keep the Owens River flowing, con- trol dust from a dry lake bed and irrigate pastures where cattle graze instead of sending water to the city. For those in the Owens Valley, who have a history of conflict with the metropo- lis hundreds of miles to the south, the plugged-up aque- duct brought relief to some and left others to suffer the drought's misery. Cattleman Mark Lacey got a taste of both. In the southern end of the valley this summer where the Department of Water and Power mostly fulfilled irrigation contracts, Lacey's cattle grazed amid an oasis as cool, clear water poured onto verdant fields framed by barbed wire. About 100 miles north, where DWP didn't allow ranchers to take irrigation water, land Lacey leases turned dry and dusty. Lacey had to lay off some ranch hands and he trucked a third of his cattle to Ne- braska and sent another third to greener pastures in Nevada and Oregon. Like others in Califor- nia's massive agriculture in- dustry, Owens Valley ranch- ers are subject to complex water rights and largely de- pendent on snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada that looms nearby. Unlike most farmers, though, they are also at the mercy of Los Angeles, which looms even larger. LA owns most of the water rights it furtively bought in the early 1900s in a widely chronicled land grab loosely recounted in the movie "Chinatown." William Mulholland con- ceived the gravity-fed chan- nel to slake the growing city's thirst and famously quipped, "There it is. Take it," as water first flowed into LA 102 years ago. There was no such decla- ration Tuesday as workers used an excavator to begin dismantling the temporary dam. The aqueduct's contribu- tion to Los Angeles has di- minished over time, given legal fights over the envi- ronment and greater reli- ance on the California Wa- ter Project and the Colorado River. The 338-mile aqueduct system typically provides about a third of the city's water, it but it can supply a larger share after a wet and snowy winter, which fore- casters are predicting in the months ahead because of El Nino. The aqueduct will only account for about 3 per- cent of this year's water be- cause of the drought, said aqueduct manager Jim Yan- notta. The flow is being re- stored because irrigation season is over and legal ob- ligations in the Owens Val- ley have expired for the year. The relationship between the locals and the "the city," as LA is called in this ru- ral patch of high desert, has been fraught with con- flict that intensified this spring when the Depart- ment of Water and Power announced that the his- toric low snow levels would force it to shut off irrigation water. "There's a little bit of an- imosity toward DWP that wasn't there a few years ago," Lacey said. "When you get desperate times, it creates heightened tension." Ranchers had agreed to take less water, but DWP re- jected that compromise. The department later re- versed its initial position and said it would not send water to LA, but would use the dam to keep runoff in the Owens Valley. DWP is required by court settlements to provide wa- ter to the Owens River and dampen the desiccated Owens Lake to control un- healthy dust that has blown since its waters were si- phoned south. Air quality regulators and environmental groups agreed to take less water from DWP for dust control and habitat protection so ranchers in Inyo County could water their pas- tures. Ranchers in Mono County, however, lost out because there's no le- gal settlement protecting their water supply. OWENS VALLEY LAAqueductflowsa erdam built for drought is dismantled ARTMOCHIZUKI—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Crews remove a temporary dam they built in the Los Angeles aqueduct this summer because of the drought near the eastern Sierra ghost town of Cartago. By Tom Murphy The Associated Press Walgreens will use its $9.41 billion takeover of rival Rite Aid to spread its philosophy on making drugstores destinations for customers looking to stay healthy or buy beauty products. The nation's largest drugstore chain also is ex- pected to flex its beefed- up negotiating muscle to wring better deals from drugmakers and other suppliers. But experts say those discounts won't au- tomatically trickle down to consumers. In fact, customers may not see a huge impact on their wallets if the deal an- nounced Tuesday evening goes through. But they will likely see some store closures or name changes and fewer brand choices after Walgreens Boots Al- liance Inc. adds the na- tion's third-largest drug- store chain to its portfolio. They also may see more clinics in Rite Aid Corp. stores and more products like vitamins and supple- ments aimed at keeping them healthy, as the sec- tor continues to stretch well beyond simply filling prescriptions. All the major drugstore chains — Walgreens, CVS Health Corp., and Rite Aid — have been revamp- ing their stores for the past few years to make them bigger providers of health care products and other services. They're trying to appeal to customers who want to do more one-stop shopping and take advan- tage of the vast network of stores that the chains have built. Drugstores also are shifting to serve the aging baby boom population and its health needs, as well as the growing number of people who are shopping around more for health care instead of simply visiting their family doc- tors. And they're fending off competition from gro- cery chains and big retail- ers like Wal-Mart that have added thousands of phar- macies to their stores and offer steep discounts on some drugs. CVS, in fact, is partner- ing with the retailer Tar- get Corp. to run its in-store clinics and pharmacies. Camp Hill, Pennsylva- nia-based Rite Aid runs about 4,600 drugstores in 31 states and the District of Columbia. Its combination with Walgreens would cre- ate a drugstore behemoth that runs more than 12,700 stores in the United States. That's about 64 percent more than the next larg- est competitor, CVS, not counting that company's still-evolving partnership with Target. But Walgreens may have to close hundreds of stores to ease federal regulatory concerns about competi- tion. That will depend on how the deal changes the competitive balance in in- dividual markets. Even if it closed no stores, there will still be a fair amount of competi- tion in the sector. The Wal- greens-Rite Aid combina- tion would only control about 23 percent of the retail drugstore market, according to an estimate from Jeff Jonas, a portfo- lio manager who follows the industry for Gabelli Funds. Aside from the big chains, there are still about 22,000 indepen- dent pharmacies in the United States, according to the National Commu- nity Pharmacists Associ- ation. MERGER Walgreens, Rite Aid combo to spread stores' health kick BrookdaleRedBluff Assisted Living | Alzheimer's & Dementia Care 705 Luther Rd | Red Bluff, CA 96080 #525002331 brookdale.com EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY Joinusforanexceptional culinary experience as we explore Egypt. InEgyptoffersoffoodanddrinksare considered a greeting of hospitality. This month we will follow that custom by sharing Egyptian recipes, often accompanied by pita bread called eish masri (which can also be used as an eating utensil). Come explore the tastes and traditions of Egypt with us. Friday, October 30 4:30-6:30 p.m. Complimentary Admission and Refreshments GreatFOOD, and TRADITION is meant to be Shared. PublishedbyTheDailyNewswithgreatappreciationfor the support of local businesses! "WordofMouth" Weprovideyearroundfarmfreshproducetoour community and with the help from Red Bluff Daily News, we are very successful! I'm told the Daily News has readership of about 12,000 per edition. In my experience there's no better way than ads in the paper to create "word of mouth" in the community at large. Thank you RBDN and Gayla Eckels for providing a voice for small business. Sandra Burkett Frontier Village Farmers Market FrontierVillage Farmer's Market @HomeDepot Year Round, Every Saturday 8:00-12:30 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2015 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 5 B