Promises Covered With Dust

How many times has the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power claimed to turn over a new leaf in its relations with the parched Owens Valley? Off and on since 1991, the city has promised to return a portion of water to the lower Owens River. And how much water is in the lower river now? Zilch.

When the city launched the Owens Valley water project in 1913, it took water (stole it legally, we’ve often noted) from the river north of Bishop and diverted it into the Los Angeles Aqueduct, essentially turning the valley into a desert often choked by dust storms. In an agreement signed and sealed in 1997, the city agreed to restore 60 miles of the long-drained river and its riverside habitat. The city has actually, after years of foot-dragging, returned a little water to the dry Owens Lake to limit the dust clouds that originated there. But as for the river, little happened. As a spokesman for state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said, “The city has not met any deadlines and has utterly failed to meet its obligations.”

Mayor James K. Hahn, his awareness perhaps raised by his reelection campaign, has asked the new DWP general manager, Ron Deaton (the city’s former longtime legislative analyst), to tour the valley and meet with local officials to discuss issues in the way of a river re-watering plan. Here we go again. The city first agreed to restore flow in the lower river by 2003. As The Times’ Louis Sahagun reported Monday, that was pushed back to 2004. Finally, under court order to act, the DWP agreed to start by Sept. 5 of this year. The city now seems unlikely to meet that deadline. Environmentalists and state officials are unsurprisingly asking the courts to punish the city for its delays.

Deaton is known as a man who gets things done. In his decades working for city government, his power was often seen as greater than any mayor’s. Here’s a task that will really test his reputation.