State Drops Objections to Water Plan : Move Clears Way for Passage of Bills on Mono Lake Basin

State water officials withdrew their objections Wednesday to legislation that would encourage the city of Los Angeles to take less water from the Mono Lake Basin after its sponsors agreed to modify several provisions in the measure.

The key to the deal was an agreement that the state would play a reduced role in resolving the decades-long dispute between the city, which draws water from the basin to supply a booming urban population, and environmentalists who claim that those withdrawals are damaging the lake’s ecosystem.

The agreement removed the last major obstacle to final passage of the legislation and is expected to improve the likelihood that Gov. George Deukmejian will sign it into law.

“We are in the position now in the department to support the proposal in terms of recommending it to the governor,” said John Caffrey, the state Water Resources Department’s chief deputy director. “We cannot speak for the governor, however. It is our understanding he has not seen the details of this compromise and certainly needs to do that.”

Preserve Lake

The legislation involves two bills by Assemblymen Phillip Isenberg (D-Sacramento) and William Baker (R-Danville). Baker’s proposal provides $390.8 million for a series of water projects, including the creation of a $65-million environmental water fund. Isenberg’s measure provides that $60 million from the fund can be spent to preserve Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra.

Initially, Isenberg’s bill required the city, the Department of Water Resources and the Mono Lake Committee, a private environmental group, to agree to a plan for preserving the lake. However, to comply with the compromise reached with water officials, the legislation was modified in the Senate Wednesday to provide that only the city and the Mono Lake Committee would have to devise the plan for preserving the lake.

The two sides would then jointly apply to the Water Resources Department for a grant from the environmental fund to help the city develop other sources of drinking water.

If the two sides fail to apply for the grant before July 1, 1994, the bill penalizes the city by reducing the amount of money that would be available to it.

Reach Accord

Duane Georgeson, assistant general manager for the city’s Department of Water and Power, said Los Angeles officials are still “enthusiastic” about the bill, even with the modifications. He said although they are “reasonably confident” that they can ultimately reach an agreement with the Mono Lake Committee, their real concern is finding alternative water sources.

“The challenge is to find alternative sources which are available at a reasonable cost without environmental, economic or social problems,” he said.

In most years, the city obtains about one-seventh of its water supply from the mountain streams that feed Mono Lake.