LA leader’s “commonsense” plan links new local water with healing Mono Lake
Last fall the President of the Los Angeles Water & Power Commissioners made headlines in the Los Angeles Times when he proclaimed, “This is a solution with lots of winners,” and that once the water starts flowing, “we won’t need Mono Lake water to meet the supplies in LA.” President Richard Katz was talking about the remarkable success of Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP) engineers creating new, affordable, and local water that will soon supply the city.
Earlier this year, Katz, who has since retired, advanced his win-win proposal in a letter to the California State Water Resources Control Board. The proposal looks beyond traditional conflicts of water policy to a refreshing, mutually beneficial future built on the abundance of local water supplies DWP has successfully engineered for the City.
The Katz concept is simple: Use DWP’s new local water supply to meet the needs of Los Angeles and pause DWP’s Mono Basin water diversions to meet the needs of Mono Lake.
It’s a compelling opportunity. Now, to make it a reality, the State Water Board must act.
Creating a new water source in LA
Last October, to applause from the packed audience, DWP Commissioners approved a major expansion of the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys to recycle 40,000 acre-feet of water annually (see Fall 2025 Mono Lake Newsletter), with construction already underway. The project benefits from substantial state funding that reduces ratepayer cost. When complete in 2027, it will provide an affordable supply of water at a cost lower than purchasing water from sources like the Bay Delta or Colorado River.
That additional volume is significantly more than what DWP diverts from Mono Lake. Katz underscored that this “new” local water means the City will certainly have the capacity to raise Mono Lake to the healthy, mandated 6,392-foot level by pausing water diversions from Mono Lake.
The DWP Commissioners discussed linking what Katz calls this “new water” with pausing Mono Lake diversions. The Mono Lake Committee supported the Commission’s approval of the funding. LA community members, organizations, and Eastern Sierra groups attended the meeting to voice support as well.
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, observing, “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.”
The City of LA’s Ratepayer Advocate supported Commission approval, noting that producing local water improves resilience and will be cheaper than other options.
DWP Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the project. 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,” and she 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.”
Plan gives the State Water Board a fast, affordable path to heal Mono Lake and benefit LA
Katz wrote to the State Water Board with the wide-angle perspective and wisdom gained from decades of leadership as a state legislator representing LA, years as a member of the State Water Board, and, most recently, as DWP Commission President. From this vantage point, he encouraged a “swift, straightforward, and impactful process that will decisively and at long last restore the lake level of Mono Lake.”
The [State Water Board] hearing process in 2026 could be efficiently and cost-effectively focused on the implementation of the established lake level requirement by using the recycled water produced by the Tillman facility.
Richard Katz
This year, the State Water Board plans to tackle the problem of ongoing DWP water diversions—the primary cause of Mono Lake’s failure to reach its mandated protection level. The Board is responsible for protecting the lake’s public trust resources at the 6,392-foot surface elevation, yet the lake is only halfway there and a decade overdue.
“The [State Water Board] hearing process in 2026 could be efficiently and cost-effectively focused on the implementation of the established lake level requirement by using the recycled water produced by the Tillman facility,” Katz argued in his letter.
On the other hand, DWP attorneys have demonstrated the Department will respond with a combative approach to any State Water Board attempt to implement its longstanding Mono Lake decision, possibly by attempting to weaken the Board’s existing protective lake level mandate or even attacking the authority of the Board itself.
Katz said it doesn’t have to be that way. “…I believe it is in the best interest of Los Angeles and the State of California to avoid a prolonged contentious [State Water Board] hearing. There is a commonsense alternative for meeting the needs of Mono Lake and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power that can be quickly implemented by the State Board.”
Mutual benefits from a win-win plan
Pausing DWP diversions would allow more water to flow into Mono Lake, which is artificially and perilously low due to DWP’s many decades of water diversions. Adding more water will allow Mono Lake to finally rise to the healthy level mandated back in 1994. Katz highlighted that pausing diversions also serves the interests of LA. Healing the damage done at Mono Lake is a requirement of the City’s water rights—achieving compliance is the best way for the City to retain those rights and be able to access water in the future when the lake is above the required healthy level.
Katz’s theme is that LA and California can solve problems, meet people’s water needs, and protect the environment all at once—and that DWP is already building the durable projects that make this possible. Mono Lake, and the water issues of the LA Aqueduct up and down the Eastern Sierra and Payahuunadü, do not have to be battles framed in the same old ways as a zero-sum game.
The vision set forth by Richard Katz is both inspirational and realistic. Now, implementation is in the hands of the State Water Board. It is time to act—to raise Mono Lake, affordably meet the water needs of Los Angeles, and protect the Public Trust for the people of California.
Update: State Water Board receives major report on Mono Lake
Shortly before this Newsletter went to press, the State Water Board had Mono Lake on its regular meeting agenda for the first time in decades. Although this was not the much-anticipated hearing at which changes to diversion levels can be made, it was a significant milestone.
The UCLA Center for Climate Science presented a new hydrologic model and climate analysis for Mono Lake at the meeting. Commissioned by the Board and informed by technical expertise from interested parties, the report is an additional tool for the Board to use in evaluating paths to achieve its healthy lake level mandate.
The report shows clearly that while climate change is a factor, ongoing DWP water diversions are the main cause of the present-day low lake level. The report also shows that current diversion levels are unlikely to allow the lake to rise. However, Mono Lake recovery is still achievable if water diversions are reduced—a clear opportunity for meaningful action by the Board.
Following the presentation, an expert panel, and moving public comment, all five State Water Board members agreed that it was time to move forward with a hearing. The Board directed staff to develop a plan with the goal of initiating the decision-making hearing before the end of the year.
This post was also published as an article in the Winter & Spring 2026 Mono Lake Newsletter. Top photo by Geoff McQuilkin.