DWP Told to Cut Back Diversion of Mono Lake Water

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power must cut back the amount of water it diverts from Mono Lake under an order Wednesday by the California Supreme Court.

By letting stand a Jan. 26 state Court of Appeal ruling, the high court required state water regulators to protect trout in the four Mono Lake tributaries by cutting back on the water Los Angeles was licensed to draw from the scenic lake that lies just east of Yosemite National Park.

The ruling was a victory for California Trout Inc., a sports fishing group, the National Audubon Society and Mono Lake Committee, both environmental organizations.

Los Angeles annually diverts an average of 100,000 acre feet of water from the four Mono Lake tributaries but it was unclear precisely how much that would be cut under the court decision.

Under existing injunctions in two separate lawsuits, the DWP must allow a specific amount of water to flow from the rivers into the lake to protect survival of the fish populations, according to Patrick Flinn, attorney for the two environmental groups.

He said studies are under way to determine exactly the amount of water needed to flow through the streams to protect the trout.

Until those studies are complete, it was uncertain whether the amount of water allowed to flow into Mono Lake under Wednesday’s decision would significantly change from the current levels, Flinn said.