Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
reversing environmental damage
from water development
Important successes over the past several decades illustrate the dif erence that
ordinary citizens can make in reversing the environmental and ecological
damage resulting from modern water development. h e restoration of Mono
Lake in the 1980s and 1990s at er four decades of water diversion by the city
of Los Angeles is a powerful example. Between 1941 and 1981, diversions of
inl owing streams lowered Mono's lake level by forty-four feet, reducing the
lake's volume by half and threatening a fate similar to that of Tulare Lake,
another ancient and biologically important lake in the southern San Joaquin
Valley, now gone due to diversions (see i gure 36). h e fascinating tufa towers
that make Mono Lake famous were originally formed under water. As the lake
level dropped, these formations were exposed (see i gure 37). Mono, a salt-
water lake, became twice as salty at er the diversion of its inl owing streams
reduced the lake's volume by half. h ese diversions also af ected ecosystems
and vegetation along Mono's inl owing streams, leading to a steep decline in
trout and other aquatic organisms. h e exposed lakebed around the edges of
the lake dried and was entrained by winds, causing unhealthy levels of dust in
Mono Basin—severe enough to violate federal air quality standards.
h e Mono Lake Committee was formed in response to this emergency. h is
organization of 20,000 concerned citizens worked with the National Audubon
Society to research the impacts of water diversions on the lake's unique ecosys-
tem, including trillions of brine shrimp and alkali l ies, algae, and millions of
migratory birds that rely on the lake's resources each winter for feeding.
h e coalition i nally sued the Los Angeles Department of Water and
Power, charging that it was in violation of state i sh and game codes. In a
historic decision in 1983, the California Superior Court ruled that the public
trust doctrine applies to Mono Lake. h e essence of this doctrine is that
public waterways (including streams, wetlands, tidelands, and lakes) should
be protected for all citizens for navigation, commerce, i shing, recreation,
and aesthetic values, including wildlife. h e court ruled that the state is not
bound by past decisions on water usage, particularly those that do not accord
with current knowledge or needs to protect public trust uses of Mono Lake.
Because the lake's ecosystem was threatened, Los Angeles was ordered to
restore 60,000 acre-feet of water per year—enough to allow the lake to stabi-
lize and begin to regain its former size. Although today the lake is still twenty-
i ve feet lower than pre-diversion levels in 1941, its ecosystem is rebounding
