The L.A.-Inyo Agreement--Finally

If an easy solution to the legendary fight between the Owens Valley and the city of Los Angeles over the valley’s water had been possible, the battle would have ended long ago. There was none. However, the tentative agreement reached by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Inyo County officials this past week seems the next best thing, one that will meet two major goals: to protect the valley environment against Los Angeles’ over-pumping the ground water tables while allowing the city to continue drawing a reasonable supply of water from its wells in Owens Valley. The plan should be ratified promptly by Los Angeles and Inyo County governments.

The agreement was concluded after years of negotiation and legal battles between the giant city that had taken Owens Valley water virtually at will for more than half a century and the sparcely populated eastern Sierra county that long has viewed itself as the aggrieved victim of Los Angeles’ insatiable growth. Los Angeles would love to pump all the water it could. Inyo County might want the city to go away altogether. But neither was going to happen. And neither side could count on winning in the courts.

A court conclusion implied winners and losers, and continued bitter feelings. A negotiated settlement allows both sides to claim victory.

The major benefit of the settlement is that it permits control of Los Angeles’ pumping of valley water to be decided on the basis of evidence of likely damage to the environment and not the arbitrary water-export limits that might have been imposed by a court. If the evidence indicates that the Department of Water and Power is pumping too heavily in one area, Inyo County officials can require that the well be shut down. When a well is closed in one area, the city has the potential for drawing water from other valley wells.

The city now pumps about 170,000 acre-feet of water from the Owens Valley, which represents nearly one-fifth of the city’s annual demand. The well water, along with surface supplies from the Owens River and streams further north in the Mono Basin, flows to Los Angeles by gravity through the 233-mile-long Los Angeles Aqueduct.

Inyo County is to receive more compensation for lost property taxes, money to finance the county’s water department and funds for recreation development. There will be more enhancement projects to compensate for past pumping damage. Inyo County officials also scored a considerable symbolic victory by getting the city to turn control of local water systems back to the communities of Lone Pine, Independence and Laws. For years, they suffered the indignity of having their water supplies metered and charged on the same basis as Los Angeles residents.

Both Inyo County and Department of Water and Power officials believe the agreement will be ratified by their governing boards without major opposition. Inyo County supervisors will hold hearings on the agreement in Independence on April 18; Big Pine, April 20; Lone Pine, April 25, and Bishop, April 26, before voting on the pact May 9. The agreement goes to the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power commissioners at its May 11 meeting and then to the City Council for ratification.

The pact will not solve all the problems that separate Los Angeles and Owens Valley. But it does seem to build a solid foundation for a fair future partnership between the Department of Water and Power and Inyo County in joint control of the valley’s water supply. That is far better than either side could have expected from a prolonged court battle.