The Mono Lake Committee, together with over 25 Los Angeles-based conservation and environmental justice groups, has delivered a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass asking that the city avoid quadrupling the amount of water it diverts away from Mono Lake this year by choosing not to increase diversions this year.
The letter states that after two consecutive years of ample rainfall, the City has sufficient water supplies without increasing its diversion of water from Mono Lake. The letter goes on to note the amount of water they are asking the city to forgo is just a tiny fraction of the city’s water supply.
Signed by the leaders of environmental justice groups including Communities for a Better Environment, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, and Pacoima Beautiful, alongside groups including the Sierra Club, the Los Angeles Water Keeper, and LA Audubon, the letter notes that the mayor has the authority to divert less water from Mono Lake than allowed.
Despite the California State Water Resources Control Board’s 1994 ruling, Mono Lake’s level still falls nearly ten vertical feet short of the 6,392-elevation target.
For more on the campaign to allow Mono Lake to rise to the mandated, ecologically healthy level:
- Will DWP increase Mono Basin Diversions this year?
- Mono Lake is in a state of emergency
- Strong call for raising Mono Lake at State Water Board workshop
- Many calls for a State Water Board hearing
- Mono Lake’s summer rise
- Mono Lake’s exciting rise may well disappear
- Mono Lake’s impressive rise will be tempered by increased exports
Top photo by Andrew Youssef.