teton dam [streams of life]

Streams of Life: Water in the American West

Mono Lake

Mono Lake is a saline remnant of a vast inland sea that covered an estimated 316 square miles of the Mono Basin and neighboring Aurora Valley more than thirteen thousand years ago. Now, the lake is approximately 85 square miles due to receding glaciers. The level of the lake constantly fluctuates, even by 100 feet, continuously due to Los Angeles' water diversions.

The lake lacks an outlet and this has caused concentrations of carbonates, sulfates, and chlorides to form. The lake is not as rich as Owens Lake to the south due to its lack of resources and also its harsh climate and remote location.

There is lots of wildlife in the area In the 1970s, bills were introduced to end the diversion of Mono Lake. Environmental groups and people condemned Los Angeles' thirst and joined the cause. In 1978, the Resources Agency of California assembled a special task force to draw up a plan for the preservation of natural resources of Mono Basin.

In 1978, a land bridge to Negit Island appeared due to the receding water level. People put their efforts behind the California National Guard to blast open a temporary channel. When the bridge was blown, the birds took off and the bridge settled back. A second attempt in April of 1979 proved unsuccessful. By the summer of 1979, all adult breeding gulls had left the island. Only 12,500 gulls settled on other islands in the lake compared to the 46,700 in 1978.

The state task force published a report at the end of 1979. It gave nineteen alternatives, one of these was a plan for the immediate reduction of the withdrawal of water from 100,000 to 15,000 acre-feet of water a year. To make up for the loss, it suggested stepping up wastewater reclamation and continuing water conservation efforts. The Department of Water and Power did not endorse the conclusions and it felt ill treated since it had already spent $100 million to build an aqueduct to Mono Lake and had to rights to build it and take water.

The Los Angeles city council unanimously voted to oppose implementing the suggestions because less water from Mono Lake meant less water and less electric power. The State said that losses could be made up by purchases from other sources, but the city decided that it would increase the cost for water and power. The city believed that implementing these suggestions would not be worthwhile because they estimated a two billion dollar cost and people would not conserve enough. The state wanted Los Angeles to implement the suggestions because it believed it would only cost $250 million to implement and most of it was recoverable due to reduced energy use.

Mono Lake is one of the most challenging water controversies because it is one of the least refined, least tractable, and least likely to allow any compromises.

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