The Greta Garbo of California Reservoirs Should Be Left Alone

Lake Mathews Is Beautiful, Lofty, and Forbidden. Humans, Keep Your Distance.

Stay away from my lake, Californians.

It’s too beautiful, and too important, for the likes of you.

It’s true that, as a legal matter, I don’t own Lake Mathews. But I’ve always felt a special kinship with a Riverside County reservoir that spells our mutual name the correct way, with just one “t.” And, what’s more, Lake Mathews serves as the beating heart of the system that supplies water for me and millions of my fellow Southern Californians.

Lake Mathews represents an end and a beginning. It’s both the terminus of the …