On windy days dust billows off Mono Lake’s dry sections of lakebed, which were exposed when the lake’s level dropped due to stream diversions by the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power.
The dust storms violate Clean Air Act standards—dust-emitting land at Mono Lake is often responsible for the worst particulate air pollution in the nation of particles less than ten microns in diameter (PM-10).
As Mono Lake rises it will put the dusty lakebed back underwater, reducing the air quality problem. To solve the problem the lake must rise to the Public Trust lake level of 6,392 feet above sea level, which was selected in part to ensure that hazardous dust storms come to an end.
The Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District enforces air quality regulations to ensure that federal and state air quality standards are met. At their site you can see data on dust storms and live air quality cameras at Mono Lake.
Articles about air quality at Mono Lake:
Top photo by Rose Nelson; other photos by Elin Ljung, Geoff McQuilkin, and Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle.