Current DWP water export:
3,590,882,743 gallons
11,020 acre-feet
The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP) continued to export water from the Mono Basin as of this morning. The diversion of water away from Mono Lake has been continuous all winter and has lowered the level, and health, of the lake.
The end of March marks the end of the runoff year and the end of the timeframe authorized for these unfortunately large diversions. DWP is expected to ramp down and conclude the water exports on Monday, March 31.
The Mono Lake Committee’s tracking of exports for the runoff year shows a total of about 11,000 acre-feet, or about 250% of the amount promised by Mayor Karen Bass and set forth in the Annual Operations Plan DWP submitted to the State Water Board last year. DWP chose back in November to make an unexpected and unannounced break with the mayor’s voluntary commitment, causing the State Water Board to accelerate its schedule for holding a hearing in 2025 on DWP’s stream diversions.
Tunnel makes total impact on Mono Lake even larger
Although surface water exports are winding down, the Los Angeles Aqueduct will still be carrying Mono Basin water away from Mono Lake and to Los Angeles come April. That’s because the Los Angeles Aqueduct system captures extensive groundwater flow in the subsurface Mono Craters Tunnel year-round.
The 11-mile-long tunnel captures around 5,000 acre-feet of Mono Basin groundwater a year for the aqueduct system. This water, which is not under the oversight of the State Water Board, would normally flow underground to Mono Lake and emerge in springs and wetlands.
A hearing in 2025
The State Water Board continues to plan its long-awaited hearing about Mono Lake and implementation of the Board’s mandated, healthy 6,392-foot surface elevation for 2025. The hearing will focus on adjustments to stream diversions necessary to ensure the lake’s rise to the management level required by the Board in 1994. The 6,392-foot elevation lake level, once achieved, will protect numerous Public Trust resources at Mono Lake, including ecological health, air quality, scenic and Tribal resources, and unique, internationally significant habitat for millions of migratory and nesting birds.
The hearing will consider actions needed to achieve the lake’s recovery from the impacts of decades of excessive water diversions by DWP.
Top photo by Robbie Di Paolo.
It’s time for voters to do what it takes to stop coastal cities from stealing inland water. It’s incredibly destructive and cities can too easily desalination all the water they need.
We need to eliminate all existing water rights in the state and stop allowing unlimited aquifer withdrawals. Your absolute right to water should be based on what falls on your land. You should never have the right to drain underground rivers just because they go under your property.
Property rights are central to this countries values. That right doesn’t mean you can deplete, destroy or damage natural resources that transit your land, airspace or subsurface. When abuse of your rights eliminates my rights you’ve become a criminal.