Calls grow for boosting Mono Lake by easing L.A.’s water reliance

LEE VINING, Calif. — The picturesque tufa towers on the shores of Mono Lake, formed over centuries by underwater springs and left high and dry as Los Angeles diverted water from nearby creeks, have long been a symbol of the saline lake. Visitors who stroll beside the lapping water take photos of the craggy calcium carbonate formations as flocks of migratory birds soar overhead.

But residents, local officials and environmentalists say the lake’s level should be much higher than it is today, and that the fully exposed tufa spires show L.A. remains far from meeting its obligation to restore the lake’s health.

That commitment was made in a landmark 1994 decision, when state water regulators required the L.A. Department of Water and Power to limit water diversions and take steps to raise the lake level 17 feet. Mono Lake is now 8 feet higher than it was then, but is still about 9 feet below the required level set 31 years ago.

Frustrated by what they view as L.A.’s lagging progress, environmental advocates are looking to the State Water Resources Control Board to set new rules further limiting diversions so the lake can rise toward the target level.

“It’s not in good shape right now,” said Bartshé Miller, policy director of the nonprofit Mono Lake Committee. “There is systemic illness in the lake in terms of the health of the ecosystem, and it needs more water to recover to full health and vitality.”

Miller and other conservationists say they are concerned that because the lake remains far below its natural level, ecological conditions are worsening and some bird populations have declined.

DWP’s managers disagree, saying the ecosystem is relatively healthy and the lake has benefited from the city’s efforts over the last three decades.

Even so, L.A. Board of Water and Power Commission President Richard Katz said he and other city leaders want to help boost lake levels.

“I’d like to see us not need to take water out of Mono Lake anymore — long-term goal,” Katz said.

Katz said that he plans to explore the city’s options to lessen reliance on water from the Mono Basin.

“I think Mono Lake’s a unique resource, and we ought to be doing whatever we can to make sure that it stays healthy,” Katz said.

Debate over lake’s health

Mono Lake, located east of Yosemite National Park, is replenished by five creeks that carry snowmelt cascading from the Sierra Nevada. The lake, which is about two and a half times saltier than the ocean, is located at the base of the Eastern Sierra, where the mountains meet the Great Basin Desert.

DWP diverts water from two of those creeks, Lee Vining and Rush, sending supplies flowing nearly 340 miles south in the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

More than 300 species of birds can be found on and around the 45,000-acre lake, which serves as a vital stopover point where birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway feed on brine shrimp and the larvae of alkali flies.

Each year, thousands of California gulls arrive to nest on islands in the lake. Last year, biologists who conducted an annual survey found the gulls suffered a major nesting failure. While more than 20,000 adult birds came to breed, researchers found just 324 chicks survived. Data from this year’s survey have yet to be released.

A California gull flies over the water at Mono Lake at sunrise.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

On a recent morning, Miller steered a motorboat to the islands where gulls nest. With him was Geoffrey McQuilkin, the Mono Lake Committee’s executive director, who held binoculars as he pointed out ospreys, American avocets, Wilson’s phalaropes and other birds.

Thousands of cawing gulls perched on a rocky island, and newly hatched chicks bobbed in the water.

Miller said it was encouraging to see more young gulls. But he added that the gulls are still in the midst of an alarming long-term population decline.

“There’s half as many gulls as there used to be, and the decline has accelerated since 2015,” Miller said.

McQuilkin said the struggling gull population reflects broader ecological problems.

“It’s an indicator that something’s got to change in how DWP operates,” McQuilkin said. “The lake’s not healthy.”

In its 1994 decision, the state water board placed limits on DWP’s diversions and set a lake level target of 6,392 feet above sea level. The board said that if the lake had not reached nearly that level by 2014, it would hold a hearing to “determine if any further revisions” to DWP’s license were necessary — an assessment that is long overdue.

Geoffrey McQuilkin is the executive director of the Mono Lake Committee. He says the lake needs to reach a higher level, as required under a 1994 state decision, to recover its ecological health.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

“Something has to be done to get to the 6,392 level and get more water to the lake,” McQuilkin said. “It was a promise made to the people of California, and they’re way off schedule.”

DWP officials say they welcome an opportunity to revisit Mono Lake’s issues, and have encouraged the state water board to schedule a hearing.

“I think Mono Lake is in a healthy condition,” said Adam Perez, DWP’s director of water operations. “It is a healthy and thriving ecosystem, in comparison to a lot of other lakes, like the Great Salt Lake, which is going through many, many challenges today.”

While drought and water diversions have pushed Utah’s Great Salt Lake toward critically low levels, Mono Lake’s levels have repeatedly risen and fallen over the last 20 years.

DWP’s management and environmental efforts, including stream restoration projects, have benefited the ecosystem significantly since 1994, Perez said.

“The lake is being managed in an environmentally responsible way,” Perez said. “We feel that there is a balanced approach for Mono Lake.”

A state hearing will provide an opportunity to examine the science on the lake’s condition, including its salinity, brine shrimp and bird populations, Perez said.

The research on gulls doesn’t clearly indicate why nesting was less productive last year, he said, and various factors may have played a role.

Perez stressed that while L.A.’s water diversions affect lake levels, a larger factor is whether conditions have been wet or dry.

The lake declined during California’s 2020-22 drought. In 2023, deep snow in the Sierra Nevada brought plentiful runoff, raising the lake about 5 feet.

In the last 12 months, however, the lake has fallen more than a foot, eroding some of the gains.

Last year, environmental advocates were encouraged when DWP officials announced an initial plan to take only a limited amount of water from the Mono Basin. They were later disappointed when DWP ended up diverting a significantly larger quantity of water.

“Those annual diversions by Los Angeles keep eating away at the progress,” McQuilkin said, adding that allowing water levels to rise is especially important as climate change brings more intense droughts.

The Mono Lake Committee and other environmental groups have urged the city to reduce reliance on Sierra snowmelt through efforts closer to home, including recycling wastewater, capturing stormwater runoff and cleaning up contaminated groundwater.

In the lakeside community of Lee Vining, several residents said they want to see more water left in the area.

“I think L.A. ought to look for another source of water,” said Marsha Blaver, a longtime resident. “Leave all the streams alone. Let nature do its thing.”

A long-running fight

The Los Angeles Aqueduct was completed in 1913, linking the Owens Valley to L.A. through a series of concrete channels and tunnels. An extension was later completed connecting the aqueduct to the Mono Basin’s creeks, where the city has been diverting water since 1941.

Because the water flows by gravity, without the need for pumping, the aqueduct has remained the city’s most economical supply.

The Lee Vining conduit diverts water from a diversion pond on Lee Vining Creek to the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Over the last five years, L.A. has gotten about 41% of its supplies from the Eastern Sierra, including about 2% from creeks in the Mono Basin.

Decades ago, when heavy diversions caused the lake level to plummet, vocal opposition by a group of activists led to one of California’s longest-running environmental fights.

In the late 1970s, with the lake approaching historic lows and the salinity increasing, activists began organizing protests on the shore, holding signs with slogans including “Rehydrate here” and “Save the brine shrimp.”

Starting in 1980, an annual bike-a-thon from L.A. to the lake was organized to raise awareness. Blue bumper stickers declaring “Save Mono Lake” began appearing on cars.

Environmental groups also fought in court and won a victory in 1983, when the California Supreme Court ruled that the public trust doctrine — the principle that certain natural resources must be preserved for the public — applies to Mono Lake. That laid the groundwork for the state’s 1994 decision, which sharply reduced the amount of water that could be taken.

The state water board now plans to take up Mono Lake’s issues again, but the scope and format of a hearing is still under discussion, said Jessica Bean, an official managing the effort.

She said it’s a concern that the target lake level still hasn’t been reached. “The fact that we have not gotten to that is problematic, and we want to find a way to achieve that.”

Stretches of salt-encrusted lakebed along the shore of Mono Lake emit dust on windy days.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Those calling for a solution to raise the lake level include leaders of the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District, who estimate that the current shortfall leaves exposed about 2 square miles of dust-spewing lakebed.

Though the Mono Basin often has clean air, windy days can kick up dust along exposed stretches of lake bottom, bringing hazardous levels of air pollution to remote areas along the north shore.

“The most feasible solution is raising the lake level,” said Ann Logan, the district’s air pollution control officer, standing on salt-encrusted lakebed that would be submerged if the target level were achieved.

Eric Tillemans, DWP’s L.A. Aqueduct manager, said dust is emitted during high wind events, but there is “no evidence that those emissions are affecting human health because of the remote location.” He said DWP officials have suggested that a feasible solution would be to have a warning system and restrict public access to remote, dust-prone areas when high winds are forecast.

On a recent afternoon in Lee Vining, longtime residents chatted about the state of the lake as they shared grilled tri-tip and corn on the cob at an outdoor gathering held by the Mono Lake Kootzaduka’a Tribe.

Ruth Austin, a 92-year-old Indigenous woman who grew up by the lake and now lives elsewhere, said her father worked on a crew that helped build the water infrastructure in the 1930s. She remembers the lake being much higher in her youth when she went to the shore with her family, carrying baskets to collect kootzabe, or alkali fly pupae, a traditional food source.

“I do see a big difference with the lake. It has gone down a lot,” Austin said.

The lands by the lake where her family lived once had green fields and abundant flowing water, Austin said.

“It’s all gone,” she said. “It’s sad when you see the lake the way it is.”