Complaint Filed Against DWP Over ’91 Fish Kill at Haiwee

Inyo County has filed a misdemeanor complaint against the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for accidentally killing fish a year ago with a purification chemical routinely used in Haiwee Reservoir in the Eastern Sierra.

The action is not directly linked to ongoing talks to open the reservoir to public fishing, as are DWP reservoirs Crowley Lake and Pleasant Valley.

But Bob Hayner, president of the Owens Valley Warm Water Fishing Assn., said: “We were the ones that turned it in--and we will every time we see dead fish down there. We’re going to try to make life a little miserable for them. They’re not wanting to be very receptive and not wanting to compromise.”

The complaint is on two counts because the kill occurred over two days. The DWP could be fined $2,700 on each count.

The California Department of Fish and Game sent three dead rainbow trout to its laboratory in Rancho Cordova for analysis. “They had copper in the gills, and the water samples we took had a high content of copper,” said Curtis Milliron of Bishop, DFG fisheries biologist.

The DWP uses liquid copper sulfate to control the growth of algae in the water, which eventually winds up in Los Angeles. The process--widely used across the country--is called “bluestoning.”

Glenn Singley, assistant Northern District engineer for the DWP, said: “I don’t know if (the fish kill) has been conclusively linked to the bluestoning.”