L.A. Loses Battle With Owens Valley

Reaching a historic decision that aims to force Los Angeles to surrender a large portion of its prized water, an Owens Valley pollution board Wednesday ordered the city to mount an unprecedented, multimillion-dollar project to curtail severe dust storms at Owens Lake.

The order compels Los Angeles to make amends for eight decades of water diversions that dried up one of California’s largest natural lakes, triggering immense sheets of hazardous, lung-damaging particles that occasionally descend on Eastern Sierra towns.

But Los Angeles officials have vowed to mount a legal challenge to keep the water--litigation that probably would drag on for years and delay the project.

After a tense and passionate debate Wednesday, the Owens Valley board rejected a tentative compromise announced Monday, turning down a plea from Los Angeles for a delay so that a deal might be worked out and a scientific panel could be convened to study alternatives.

“I’m tired of hearing the excuses and the alibis. . . . Let’s go for it,” said Inyo County Supervisor Michael Dorame. “How can you look out there and say we’ll put it off? The people are crying out for this, and those who go against the people are fools.”

When the vote was cast, cheers rose up from the audience of Owens Valley residents, who have waited nearly 15 years for a solution.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials say the solution, which takes 15% of the city’s aqueduct water in perpetuity, is exorbitant, and there is insufficient evidence that it will succeed in curbing the dust.

“We’ll take prudent action to protect our rights,” said Chris O’Donnell, a city aide representing Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan. At the same time, he said he retains some hope that the pollution board is still amenable to negotiations.

If the board’s order holds up to the city’s appeals, just over one-third of the lake bed--35 square miles--will be covered with a mix of shallow water, salt grass and gravel. Los Angeles must return 51,000 acre-feet of water every year in perpetuity--43 million gallons daily, enough to serve more than 100,000 families.

Lasting more than four years, construction will cost the city between $91 million and $300 million, with annual costs of $25 million to replace the lost water. Consumer rates in Los Angeles could rise as much as 20%--up to $4 extra a month for an average household.

Owens Lake remains the last major battleground in the century-long water wars between Los Angeles and the Owens Valley.

Since Los Angeles turned on its famed aqueduct in 1913, all the fresh water from the Owens River, which had flowed into Owens Lake, has been transported more than 200 miles south to quench the big city’s insatiable thirst. The lake became a giant dust bowl, and on windy days, nearby residents suffer asthma attacks and other respiratory ailments.

The conflict over Owens Lake has been a classic David versus Goliath battle. It has pitted the tiny but powerful Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District, responsible for protecting the health of rural residents, against the nation’s second largest city, which has always gone to great lengths to safeguard its water supply.

Worth $170 million a year, Owens Valley water is one of Los Angeles’ most precious assets, allowing the city to boom while the Owens Valley’s economy sagged.

The Owens Valley board faced a difficult choice: Issue the order and trigger lawsuits or give in to pressure from Los Angeles and postpone the project in hopes of striking a deal with the city.

*

In hastily arranged, last-minute talks, Riordan and the City Council sent in negotiators last Friday. Under a recommendation favored by the city leaders and endorsed by the Owens Valley board’s chairman, negotiations would have continued for 90 days, a scientific team would be formed, and cleanup of the lake dust would be extended five years, to 2006.

But the pollution board, made up of six county supervisors and one mayor from three Eastern Sierra counties, rejected the compromise and instead issued its order to Los Angeles in a 6-1 vote. They, however, voted to allow the city 120 days to file appeals.

Several board members said they were tired of waiting after 14 years of exploring various options, from building sand fences to refilling the lake.

“We have to do it. . . . There’s going to be a lawsuit whichever way we go, so if we have to have a lawsuit, I’d rather have one for doing the right thing,” said Mono County Supervisor Andrea Lawrence.

The Owens Valley officials referred often to the bitter history and intense distrust between Los Angeles and the rural valley. When Los Angeles chief engineer William Mulholland turned on the aqueduct 84 years ago and let the water flow to Los Angeles, he proclaimed, “There it is, take it.” On Wednesday, Dorame of Inyo County put his own spin on those famous words, telling Los Angeles, “There it is, fix it.

“We need clean air, and if the city of Los Angeles is sincere, I would encourage them to move swiftly to resolve the dust issue,” he said.

But Mammoth Lakes Mayor David Watson, the board’s chairman and the sole member who voted against the order, said the fastest way to clean up the lake may be to negotiate for several months.

“I think we have a better chance . . . if we utilize a 90-day cooling-off period . . . rather than adopt this [order] right now and plunge into a court battle,” Watson said.

Michael Kenny, executive officer of the state Air Resources Board, said it is “absolutely crucial” to curtail the dust, but he also urged the delay because lawsuits probably would mean that the lake problem won’t be resolved for years.

City attorneys say the order violates the city’s water rights and would require a vote of the people to implement. “It’s a $300-million project for the city and there’s no closure and no certainty and no cap on the water they want,” O’Donnell said.

In three hours of emotional testimony, Inyo County residents said they were fed up with the city.

Jeanne Lopez, who lives in Keeler on the shore of Owens Lake, said she has lived through many “blistering, hair-raising” dust storms, one as recent as Monday.

“It would be almost criminal to not take immediate action. We don’t think five years of study will do anything,” she said.

Michael Rogers, representing Native American tribal elders in Bishop, said Los Angeles’ treatment of the Owens Valley “is no longer a rape, it’s turned into a cancer.”

“It’s always been delay, delay, delay. There can be no healing of the environment with . . . promises. This has been going on too long,” he said.

*

While Los Angeles has already surrendered in the restoration of Mono Lake and the lower Owens River after lengthy court battles, it has not offered any alternative solutions for Owens Lake, despite studies conducted since 1983.

The federal Clean Air Act requires states to clean up fine pieces of pollution called particulates by the end of 2001 or seek a five-year extension from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Under state law, Los Angeles is responsible for “reasonable” measures to study and curb the lake’s dust.

Most of the year, the Owens Valley, nestled between the Sierras and the White Mountains, has blue skies and sparkling fresh air. But when winds exceed 20 mph, as much as 11 tons of salty white crust hurls off the lake in a day, exposing residents to the worst particle pollution in the nation.

The tiny particles, laced with arsenic and toxic metals, reach concentrations as extreme as 25 times higher than the national health limit. The dust reaches hazardous levels 19 times a year on average in the small town of Keeler, according to the pollution agency’s report.

Doctors in Ridgecrest say their emergency rooms and offices fill up with people suffering respiratory infections, asthma attacks and other ailments. Navy officials also say the dust storms jeopardize flight safety and weapons testing at their China Lake base downwind from the lake.

Under the order, 8,400 acres of the lake bed will be permanently flooded with a few inches of water, another 8,700 acres will be planted with salt grass and irrigated, while 5,300 acres will be covered with a four-inch-thick layer of gravel.

Based on studies of small patches of the lake, the air pollution agency’s engineers predict that 99% of the dust would be eliminated within five years. The city, however, believes that analysis is flawed.

To replace water needed to irrigate Owens Lake, the city probably would have to buy more expensive imported water from the Metropolitan Water District. That puts added demand on the limited supply used by 16 million people in six Southern California counties, especially since flows from the Colorado River are about to be reduced. In most years, it would pose no problem, but during dry years, it could cause shortages, water district officials say.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Owens Lake Controversy

Los Angeles will lose much of its invaluable Owens Valley water under an order imposed by an air pollution board to control Owens Lake dust. The city plans to appeal.

The Proposal

Nestled between the Sierra Nevada, Coso and Inyo mountains, Owens Lake has been dry since 1930 because of L.A.’s water diversions. Under the order, about one-third of the 110-square-mile lake bed--the dustiest portion--would be treated.

Under the plan, 8,400 acres would be permanently flooded with a few inches of water, 8,700 acres would be planted with saltgrass and irrigated, and 5,300 acres would be covered with a four-inch layer of gravel.

13 square miles of the dry lake would be flooded

14 square miles would be planted for vegation

8 square miles would be covered with gravel

Impact on Los Angeles

* Owens Lake would be permanently irrigated with 51,000 acre-feet a year. That’s 9% of Los Angeles’ total water supply, enough to serve 102,000 families every year.

* The pollution agency estimates construction will cost $91 million while city consultants say $250-$300 million. Yearly costs to replace the lost water could reach $25 million.

* Los Angeles consumer rates could rise 6% to pay for annual costs--adding slightly over $1 to an average household’s $20 monthly bill. Plus, rates could increase 5% to 12-15% during the five years of construction, adding another $1 to $3 per month.

* To make up the shortfall, the city could buy expensive San Francisco Bay-San Joaquin River Delta and Colorado River water, increase conservation and reclamation, or buy water from Central California farmers.

Source: Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District

Dust to Water

The pollution board says dust storms would be nearly eliminated. Particles, up to 11,000 tons on a peak day, are projected to be cut to about 44 tons per day.

Sources: Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District