The Los Angeles Aqueduct is a fixture in the Mono Basin, and few here can remember a time before it existed. Today it remains at the center of issues with the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP), especially as the three-year anniversary approaches of the effort to implement restoration streamflows that will heal the damage done by decades of excessive water diversions enabled by the aqueduct.

A view of Rush Creek from Mono Lake, which should receive high flows critical for restoration and required by the State Water Board. Photo by Arya Degenhardt, with aerial support by LightHawk.

For the Mono Lake Committee, the aqueduct and the water it diverts from Mono Lake’s tributary streams have always been an important focus, but in years past the issue was how much water was inside that buried concrete pipeline to Los Angeles—and how much remained in the Mono Basin for the lake and streams. That was settled with the landmark 1994 State Water Resources Control Board decision, which established a long-term, ecologically-sound management level for the lake, created a restoration program for the desiccated streams, and allocated continued water for export.

Now, after a decade of study and with the summary report from the State Water Board’s expert stream scientists in hand, the physical aqueduct infrastructure has become the focal issue (more…)

For the last week the streets of Lee Vining have been overtaken by heavy equipment and construction workers, all to complete one of the last stretches of Digital 395, the stimulus-funded project that will provide high-speed broadband internet to communities between Barstow and Carson City.

This view from the Lee Vining Webcam on May 8 at 11:55am shows Digital 395 construction in the center of Highway 395 ... along with much-needed rain clouds!

In fact, if you’ve logged into the Lee Vining Webcam recently, you will have seen the “ditch witch” drilling right in the middle of (more…)

Just now we got a press release from the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District about the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power’s recent air quality lawsuit. The first sentence reads:

“Today, the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s high-profile lawsuit against the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District and other environmental agencies was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.”

Here is the rest of the press release: (more…)

Volunteers count California Gull nests at Mono Lake. Photo by Russ Taylor.

You are on a rocky volcanic island surrounded by an alkaline sea. Your only protection from the high-desert sun is your khaki-colored Mono Lake Committee logo bucket hat. It’s also your only protection against the frenzied California Gulls flying every which way and trying, as you suspect, to whitewash you with an airborne “splat!” (more…)

Last year at this time the Bodie Foundation had just implemented a fee collection system at Old Marina, which proved to be the solution to keeping the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve open and operating after it had been included on the state park closure list in 2011.

Visitors near the iron ranger at Old Marina, where the $3 per car fee goes. Photo by Arya Degenhardt.

Beginning this summer, State Parks will assume responsibility for the self-pay parking fee system at Old Marina, reaffirming its commitment to keeping the State Natural Reserve open. All fees collected (more…)

Looking to land the big one? Or just looking for another big fish tale? As spring’s rejuvenating sunshine melts the ice in the Eastern Sierra’s many beautiful alpine lakes, another great fishing season begins this Saturday, April 27. Mono County’s lakes and reservoirs are fully stocked with Alpers Trout from our neighbors at Conway Ranch, located just north of Mono Lake.

Upper Rush Creek between Silver Lake and Grant Lake Reservoir is a great place to fish. Photo by Elin Ljung.

Angling has long held a special place in our hearts here at the Mono Lake Committee. In 1984, long after the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP) diverted four of Mono Lake’s tributaries to the Los Angeles Aqueduct, a local fly fisherman (more…)

After our OCWD GWRS facility tour, the Committee staff had water recycling on the brain. We were fortunate to be able to meet with Evelyn Cortez-Davis, Manager of Water Recycling Regulatory Affairs at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP), and two of her staff, Jennifer and Ralph, to continue the recycled water discussion.

Committee staff arrive at DWP's water recycling headquarters in downtown LA. Photo by Elin Ljung.

Since Los Angeles depends largely on imported water sources (like the water that flows from the Mono Basin down the Los Angeles Aqueduct), looking for ways to increase their recycled water capacity is (more…)

Imagine 70 million gallons of pure water. This is the total amount of water being recycled each day in Orange County, California. Seventy million gallons of water is 215 acre feet of water a day. Production over a full year totals 72,000 acre feet, which in Mono Basin terms, roughly equals the total annual, average flow of Rush, Parker, and Walker creeks. In terms of supply value, this is enough water to sustain the domestic water needs of 600,000 Southern Californians.

The Mono Lake Committee staff got samples of water treated through the GWRS at the end of our tour---delicious! Photo by Arya Degenhardt.

Two weeks ago Mono Lake Committee staff had the opportunity to visit the largest water recycling facility in North America. The Groundwater Replenishment System facility (GWRS) is located in Fountain Valley and is a joint public project by the (more…)

On Monday, April 1, a group of Los Angeles-area environmental organizations will host a Los Angeles Candidate Forum on the Environment, Transportation, and the Economy. The forum will be held in the Yosemite Hall at the California Endowment from 9:00am to 4:00pm.

In recognition of the connection between the City and its Eastern Sierra watershed, the Mono Lake Committee is an event endorser. With the heated race for LA Mayor garnering lots of press, this is a chance to hear from candidates running for other City positions. The forum will enlist all council district races (districts 1, 3, 6, 7 (more…)

Committee staff on the Sunnynook Footbridge at the Los Angeles River. Photo by Arya Degenhardt.

As part of the recent all-staff trip to Los Angles, our second stop (after Kogi BBQ tacos) was the Los Angeles River Center & Gardens, headquarters of the non-profit Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR). We met FoLAR’s Education Director Shelly Backlar, a former Committee staff member, and she took us to visit the river at the Sunnynook Footbridge in the Atwater Village area.

For 80% of its 50-mile length from the San Fernando Valley, south through Los Angeles, and to the ocean in Long Beach (a drop of 3,000 feet), the LA River flows through a cement-lined channel. In the section we visited, river flows have broken through the bottom of the cement lining, revealing a rocky river bottom that supports riparian plants and plenty of trees. In the middle of the city, at the bottom of it’s concrete channel, it felt almost lush! (more…)