Inyo County, L.A. Sign Second Truce in Water Dispute

Nobody should be surprised that it took two peace ceremonies, eight months apart, to settle the Los Angeles-Inyo County water war.

After all, dynamite attacks, shotguns and lawsuits are all part of a story that began in 1892 when Los Angeles City Engineer Fred Eaton first saw the bountiful Owens River near here. Twelve years later, with Los Angeles stricken by drought, Eaton showed the Owens Valley and the river to the city’s water engineer, William Mulholland. He went on to build the aqueduct that brought the water to Los Angeles and the two sides have been fighting ever since.

Monday, officials of Los Angeles and Inyo County announced an agreement dividing the waters of the valley, assuring Los Angeles of a firm water supply and giving the county environmental protections that it did not have before.

Courtroom Fight

The two sides had held the same ceremony last April in Los Angeles City Hall. It was to have ended a dispute that had escalated into dynamiting of the Los Angeles aqueduct in the 1920s, but lately has been fought in the courtrooms

But the 3rd District Court of Appeal, which has jurisdiction over the dispute, declined to approve the agreement. It was rewritten to assure the court that it would retain jurisdiction over the case.

Inyo County Supervisor Johnny Johnson, who helped initiate the agreement, took note of the long history of bitterness between the two local governments.

“We had been involved for years and years and years and were getting nowhere,” he told a news conference in the old schoolhouse that now is the Bishop Civic Center.

“I felt it was time we sat across the table, as adults.”

Then in a comment likely to anger Owens Valley environmentalists who are unhappy with Johnson and other Inyo County supervisors for agreeing to settle with Los Angeles, Johnson said, “I have always contended there is enough water in the valley to supply the needs of Los Angeles, satisfy the needs of Inyo County and satisfy concerns about the environment.

The agreement extends through Feb. 28, 1989. Rather than being a final, ironclad settlement, it provides a vehicle for both sides to work out their differences, while assuring each of enough water.

Prescribed Amount

The agreement extends through Feb. 28,1989. Rather than being a final, ironclad settlement, it provides a vehicle for both sides to work out their differences, while assuring each of enough water.

Los Angeles, now limited to exporting 108,000 acre-feet a year of underground water from the valley, could get more.

A Los Angeles-Inyo County standing committee will determine how much water will be pumped from underground, and how much of that goes to Los Angeles.

If the committee cannot agree in any year, a formula will be used to allocate the water. Los Angeles would get 106,000 acre-feet a year in a wet year and up to 210,000 acre-feet in a dry year.

And if the formula is invoked, water users in Los Angeles and the Owens Valley will be asked to increase conservation measures.

Los Angeles also agreed to finance 18 projects in Owens Valley to try to repair environmental damage for which the residents of this high-desert area have always held Los Angles responsible.

And, while the agreement is in effect, both sides will try to reach a permanent settlement of their differences.

Crucial to this will be studies of vegetation and underground water supplies by the U.S. Geological Survey, with financial help from the City of Los Angeles and Inyo County.

Those studies are intended to determine just how much water can be taken from the valley without damaging its environment.

“This is just the first step,” said Jack Leeney, president of the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commission.