CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Court Orders L.A. to Protect Fish

Water levels must be increased immediately by Los Angeles to protect fish in four Mono Lake feeder streams, a three-member panel of the 3rd District Court of Appeal has ruled. The court said Los Angeles, which takes water from the streams, cannot delay changes in its state water-diversion licenses for the Mono Lake basin. The lake is located on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada about 250 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Based on recommendations from the State Water Resources Control Board, Los Angeles previously had been told it could wait for a three-year study of water flows in the basin before complying. But the appeals court sharply rebuked a Sacramento Superior Court decision for permitting “illegal delays” and “protracted disobedience” of state fish and game laws that require sufficient downstream flows to sustain healthy fisheries below all dams.