The October 28 Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP) Board of Commissioners meeting was a watershed moment for the future of Los Angeles—and Mono Lake.
To applause from the packed audience, Commissioners approved a major expansion of the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys to recycle 40 million gallons of water per day.
That volume is significantly more than what DWP diverts from Mono Lake and DWP Commission President Richard Katz underscored that this “new” local water means the city will have the capacity to raise Mono Lake to the healthy, mandated 6,392-foot level by reducing water diversions from Mono Lake and in the Owens Valley.
Katz declared “This is a solution with a lot of winners.” Once the recycled water starts flowing, he said “we won’t need Mono Lake water to meet the supplies in LA.”
Support for the action was eloquent and heartfelt from a wide diversity of Los Angeles community members, organizations, and Eastern Sierra groups, including the Mono Lake Committee.
Bruce Reznik, head of Los Angeles Waterkeeper, deemed the project “a massive, massive achievement.”
East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice leader mark! Lopez commended DWP for advancing the groundwater replenishment project and observed, “the next step is to heal the harm up at Mono Lake … if we aren’t healing the harm then the good we are doing here is an empty gesture.”
Environmental champion, former chair of the California Air Resources Board, and past DWP Commissioner Mary Nichols joined the public speakers to underscore that local water supply is the path forward and provides water security for the city. “Dedicating this new supply to shoring up” Mono Lake, Nichols said, is both urgently needed and the right thing to do.
The project, which is currently under construction, is a sustainable solution for both Mono Lake and Los Angeles that has been decades in the making. Committee Board member Martha Davis helped secure millions of dollars of federal support in the 1990s and spoke to the Commission to endorse the project. “The additional unexpected amount of water that will be produced by the groundwater replenishment project not only fulfills the original vision … it assures that LADWP has more than enough water here in Los Angeles to make up for the amount of water that will need to stay in the Mono Basin while the lake rises,” she said.
The Los Angeles Ratepayer Advocate supported Commission approval, noting that producing local water improves resiliency and will be cheaper than other options including purchasing water from the Metropolitan Water District.
DWP Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the project and spoke with sincere understanding of the opportunity to address the legacy of impacts caused by the Los Angeles Aqueduct.
“We have an obligation to undo some of the damage we did” at Mono Lake, commented President Katz.
Commissioner Nurit Katz thanked the numerous public commenters for “speaking so eloquently on the need for a new sustainable local water supply in Los Angeles,” noted her pride in the project as a resident of the adjacent Van Nuys neighborhood, and highlighted that “this project exemplifies the best of what LA City can do.”
“We need to do it to heal our relationships with the folks in the Eastern Sierra, who have been a victim of the city’s need for many generations now,” commented Commissioner George McGraw. “I very much hope that this project is the first in a long line of those that make LA completely water secure and independent.”
Speakers supporting the project and Mono Lake were eloquent, heartfelt, and inspiring. Andrea Grossman, a ratepayer and environmental justice advocate, kicked off the public comment period (8:06), followed by Fatima Carrera, another ratepayer who attended “on behalf of the people that are currently struggling up in the area of Mono Lake” (9:48). The community group East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice had a strong turnout with three speakers: mark! Lopez (12:03), Itzel Flores Castillo Wong (13:31), and Tiff Sanchez (19:39). Speakers from other LA-based community groups included John Garside from Crop Swap LA (15:45), Bruce Reznik of Los Angeles Waterkeeper (39:36), and Roberto Cabrales from Communities for a Better Environment (42:16).
Several veteran water policy and environmental justice advocates spoke, including Connor Everts (17:52), Mary Nichols (21:55), Charming Evelyn of the Sierra Club (26:27), and Martha Davis for the Mono Lake Committee (32:04). Rich Nagel (28:20) and Greg Fisher (30:45) of the design-build firm for the Tillman project added comments. True to LA’s creative roots, artist Steven Appleton (24:49) and filmmaker Leah Garland (44:46) spoke as well. And two impassioned speakers made the hours-long drive from the Owens Valley to comment before the Commission—Santeena Pugliese, a partner with the Owens Valley Indian Water Commission (35:05), and Lauren Rose with Friends of the Inyo (37:26). Thank you to these eighteen fantastic advocates for water resilience and Mono Lake!
Though much remains to be done, the actions of the Commission are a watershed moment that demonstrate a renewed partnership for Mono Lake protection. In the long story of Mono Lake this is a critical moment that shows that recovering Mono Lake’s health is achievable through sustainable solutions that work for Mono Lake and Los Angeles.
Update: The Los Angeles Times reported on the Commission meeting; see more here.
Top photo courtesy of LA Sanitation & Environment. An aerial view of the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant.