From the Mono Lake Committee:
Thirty years ago, on September 28, 1994, the California State Water Resources Control Board issued one of California’s most historic environmental decisions. The Mono Lake Basin Water Rights Decision 1631 (D1631) was designed to protect fragile and ecologically critical Mono Lake from unsustainable water diversions. On that day, the City of Los Angeles, the Mono Lake Committee and others joined in support of the solution to protect Mono Lake reflected in D1631. The Decision halted the destruction of Mono Lake.
“When approved 30 years ago, D1631 became one of California’s greatest environmental successes,” said Geoffrey McQuilkin, Executive Director, Mono Lake Committee. Now, on the 30th anniversary of the decision, the lake elevation has not yet recovered to the healthy level ordered by the State Board and Mono Lake’s resources remain in jeopardy. Today, the Mono Lake Committee welcomes a new phase in the partnership with Los Angeles, and anticipates additional action by the Board to achieve the mandated lake level – 6,392 feet above sea level. The first step in this process is a Board hearing and review slated for 2025.
According to McQuilkin, “The State Water Board’s decision was adopted because of a clear and urgent threat. Water diversion levels had lowered the elevation of Mono Lake as much as 45 vertical feet, pushing it to the point of ecological collapse. Without Board action, lake level could have fallen 40 feet further, making it too salty to support a unique ecosystem and the millions of nesting and migratory birds that rely on the lake as they journey the Pacific Flyway. The lake would have been lost as a central cultural resource for the Kutzadika’a Tribe. Particulate air pollution would have increased from bad to disastrous levels.”
“Mono Lake was promised protection three decades ago, and it is still waiting for that promise to become a reality,” said McQuilkin. “The City of LA, Mono Lake Committee and the Water Board must act again to ensure that Mono Lake is restored as mandated in the Board’s 1994 order. The science is in. And the legal principles, notably the public trust, are well established. We look forward to next steps with Los Angeles and the California State Water Board. This effort is a journey. We’ll keep working until we restore Mono Lake to health.”
Background
In 1983, the California Supreme Court ruled that the State had neglected its public trust duty to protect Mono Lake for current and future generations. Ten years later, following one of the longest hearings in the Board’s history, the State ordered the restoration of Mono Lake to an elevation of 6,392 – a level at which the lake and its resources can return to a healthy state. To accomplish this, the Board imposed caps on the amount of water that could be diverted. The City of Los Angeles and the Mono Lake Committee both supporting D1631, including the 6,392 lake level and the need to reduce diversions by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).
The Mono Lake ecosystem exists today because of the State Board’s action in 1994. Dramatic progress has been made in restoring formerly devastated Mono Lake tributaries. D1631 halted the precipitous decline of the lake, however the lake is only 50% of the way to the mandated management level—and a decade overdue.
This year, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass affirmed Los Angeles’ commitment to protecting Mono Lake by voluntarily limiting 2024 diversion from the lake. According to Geoffrey McQuilkin, “over the past three decades, Los Angeles has made enormous investments in local water conservation – including key partnerships with community groups – stormwater capture and recycled water. Today, the City’s water supply is even more reliable than it was in 1994 when the City agreed to protect Mono Lake. It’s using significantly less water now, even with 400,000 new residents since 1994. The Mono Lake Committee is proud to have helped Los Angeles by raising over $100 million in state and federal funds 30 years ago to support these important investments.”
The ongoing low lake elevation still harms natural resources. Mono Lake is a hemispherically important stopping point for migratory birds – and the lake’s low elevation threatens the food supply for Wilson’s phalarope, eared grebes and one of the world’s largest nesting colony of California gulls. High salinity continues to impair the reproduction and productivity of brine shrimp and alkali flies that are the foundation of the lake’s ecosystem. Important Tribal Beneficial Uses (TBUs) of Mono Lake continue to be threatened. (The Lahontan Regional Water Resources Control Board is preparing to designate TBUs for Mono Lake, the first such designation for any water body in California. And the exposed bed of Mono Lake is the cause of the worst particulate air pollution in the nation.
The solution to complete the promised restoration of Mono Lake is simple. The current diversion rules should be modified in order to put lake rise back on track toward the healthy lake level. D1631 recognized such diversion adjustments might be needed and, in response, the Water Board is planning a hearing on Mono Lake in 2025. Additionally, concepts like dynamic diversion rules can ensure that gains in lake level in wet years are preserved in subsequent years, stairstepping the lake level upward to the State Water Board’s protection requirement.
Mono Lake Anniversary Backgrounder 10-2-24
