LA needs to eliminate all water use beyond inhome domestic use for bathing, cleaning & cooking & drinking. It is an arid area and must get realistic about water use as Tucson,Az did decades ago. No water for lawns, xero scape land scaping, only indigenous drought tolerant plants.
Recycle its sewage - invest in desalination.
Give the valley back its water.
Recycle its sewage - invest in desalination.
Give the valley back its water.
1
Fabulous writing by Adam Nagourney. He gets the deep history here as well as the art. One of my introductions to SOCAL was the movie"Chinatown" when it was released. I was new to LA then, but the movie set a tone.
I'm glad that there is some sort of resolution, but LA sucks down water, and they have an adroit water department, as the Mulwray character demonstrates in the movie. There are other threats as others have mentioned in these posts; Mono Lake, and the vast trove of water from the Northern Sierras. LA employs reverse osmosis, but it still needs more water
There's only so much snowpack in the Sierras, although it can be huge. We'll see what future growth brings. Cynically I think that we cease agriculture to support the population growth in the cities, and buy our food off shore.
The pictures in the article show the magnificence of the High Sierra and the vastness of the land. And all of the characters in the movie "Chinatown" would today be either retired or dead. And much more water has passed over the land.
I'm glad that there is some sort of resolution, but LA sucks down water, and they have an adroit water department, as the Mulwray character demonstrates in the movie. There are other threats as others have mentioned in these posts; Mono Lake, and the vast trove of water from the Northern Sierras. LA employs reverse osmosis, but it still needs more water
There's only so much snowpack in the Sierras, although it can be huge. We'll see what future growth brings. Cynically I think that we cease agriculture to support the population growth in the cities, and buy our food off shore.
The pictures in the article show the magnificence of the High Sierra and the vastness of the land. And all of the characters in the movie "Chinatown" would today be either retired or dead. And much more water has passed over the land.
LA allows irrigated lawns and plantings, cheap water for use in many luxury uses. Channel Tucson, Az no watering of lawns ever for example.
1
The cumulative effects of the multi-year drought in California are looking very scary. I've lived in the San Francisco Bay area for 50 years, and other than a 2 year dry spell in the late 1970's, I've never seen anything like this before.
We used to have at least 5 or 6 good "rainy season" storms, plus smaller ones, from about October through March. So far, there was one pretty big rain storm in December, but it did little to replenish the dry soil, and reservoirs levels are very low all over the state.
Alarmingly persistent high pressure regions over the Eastern Pacific Ocean keep forcing the jet stream storm-bearing winds far north, often as far as Alaska. It's feels like spring temperatures here - in January.
On January 9th, I read a report that areas of the Arctic Ocean from Greenland to Siberia were 15 to 22 degrees C above average temperature. When increasing areas of sea ice melt, the darker ocean water absorbs more of the sun's heat during the warmer months.
If California does not have significant rain storms soon, regardless of conservation efforts, millions of us residents may really have to depend on bottled water - from other states. Maybe the Tooth Fairy can wave her magic wand and conjure up a bunch of multi-billion dollar ocean water desalination plants.
We used to have at least 5 or 6 good "rainy season" storms, plus smaller ones, from about October through March. So far, there was one pretty big rain storm in December, but it did little to replenish the dry soil, and reservoirs levels are very low all over the state.
Alarmingly persistent high pressure regions over the Eastern Pacific Ocean keep forcing the jet stream storm-bearing winds far north, often as far as Alaska. It's feels like spring temperatures here - in January.
On January 9th, I read a report that areas of the Arctic Ocean from Greenland to Siberia were 15 to 22 degrees C above average temperature. When increasing areas of sea ice melt, the darker ocean water absorbs more of the sun's heat during the warmer months.
If California does not have significant rain storms soon, regardless of conservation efforts, millions of us residents may really have to depend on bottled water - from other states. Maybe the Tooth Fairy can wave her magic wand and conjure up a bunch of multi-billion dollar ocean water desalination plants.
The article says, "From one perspective, the agreement...was a technical one, reflecting advancements in the science of controlling dust."
For three generations my family has lived and farmed in an area that was part of the Dust Bowl of the 1920s. Since the 1930s, working with the Soil Conservation service, farmers in that area have been using a technique that uses watering followed by deep plowing to control erosion and thus blowing dust. The procedure described in this article would seem to follow the same basic paradigm. I question therefore whether this is a technical advance or simply a new application of existing practices.
For three generations my family has lived and farmed in an area that was part of the Dust Bowl of the 1920s. Since the 1930s, working with the Soil Conservation service, farmers in that area have been using a technique that uses watering followed by deep plowing to control erosion and thus blowing dust. The procedure described in this article would seem to follow the same basic paradigm. I question therefore whether this is a technical advance or simply a new application of existing practices.
1
This article underscores our need for an interstate water system comparable to Eisenhower's interstate highway system we take for granted each and every day. There is no reason we cannot build one. Let's face the simple reality that all life terraforms the planet. We must be much more proactive if we want all of the western United States to have running water in the near future. Nature doesn't care if we survive as a species, but I do and do my children.
2
I think it is called the Colorado, Columbia, Grande, Missouri, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and if I remember correctly, it was there before G Washington and friends.
2
I've pushed horses and mules through Owens Valley on a couple of horse drives. Beautiful place.
1
Interesting history:
"In June (1906), California Senator Frank Flint proposed a bill to grant these rights of way... His appeal to Theodore Roosevelt met with a sympathetic hearing. Roosevelt, on June 25th (1906), called a meeting of Flint, Secretary of the Interior Ethan A. Hitchcock, Bureau of Forests Commissioner Gifford Pinchot, and Director of the Geological Survey Charles D. Walcott. At the end of that meeting Roosevelt dictated the letter which would end the debate,”…yet it is a hundred or a thousand fold more important to the state and more valuable to the people as a whole if used by the city than if used by the people of the Owens Valley.”
On June 30, 1906 Los Angeles had the law which would permit the dream to become a reality. In 1907, the voters of Los Angeles again gave their overwhelming endorsement to this project, approving a $23 million bond issue for aqueduct construction. The only task that remained was to build it.”"
https://thisdayinwaterhistory.wordpress.com/tag/owens-valley/
"In June (1906), California Senator Frank Flint proposed a bill to grant these rights of way... His appeal to Theodore Roosevelt met with a sympathetic hearing. Roosevelt, on June 25th (1906), called a meeting of Flint, Secretary of the Interior Ethan A. Hitchcock, Bureau of Forests Commissioner Gifford Pinchot, and Director of the Geological Survey Charles D. Walcott. At the end of that meeting Roosevelt dictated the letter which would end the debate,”…yet it is a hundred or a thousand fold more important to the state and more valuable to the people as a whole if used by the city than if used by the people of the Owens Valley.”
On June 30, 1906 Los Angeles had the law which would permit the dream to become a reality. In 1907, the voters of Los Angeles again gave their overwhelming endorsement to this project, approving a $23 million bond issue for aqueduct construction. The only task that remained was to build it.”"
https://thisdayinwaterhistory.wordpress.com/tag/owens-valley/
1
I probably speak for most Northern Californians here:
Frankly, we couldn't care less about Owens Lake. It's very far south, and the people living around there can duke it out with the Los Angelenos. What we care about is Mono Lake, much larger, much farther north (just east of Yosemite). The water level of Mono Lake has been dropping for decades because a great deal of water that used to end up there instead ends up in other lakes farther south (Owens Lake, for example) because the water level in those farther-south lakes is also dropping.
In 1971, I spent the night in a sleeping bag at the shore of Mono Lake. If I slept in the same place today, I'd be about a quarter of a mile from the shore.
Frankly, we couldn't care less about Owens Lake. It's very far south, and the people living around there can duke it out with the Los Angelenos. What we care about is Mono Lake, much larger, much farther north (just east of Yosemite). The water level of Mono Lake has been dropping for decades because a great deal of water that used to end up there instead ends up in other lakes farther south (Owens Lake, for example) because the water level in those farther-south lakes is also dropping.
In 1971, I spent the night in a sleeping bag at the shore of Mono Lake. If I slept in the same place today, I'd be about a quarter of a mile from the shore.
1
Speak for yourself, Thinker. I spent years in Northern California, and most of the people I know there do care about the environment. Of course, unlike yourself, I don't claim to know the thoughts of millions of people.
5
This comment has a few factual errors, to put it mildly. First, the area of Mono Lake at the 6,417' level in 1941 before diversions began was 86.2 square miles. The level of Owens Lake was 108 square miles before diversion began. Water doesn't flow south from Mono Lake because it is in a basin, and water has not flowed south through the Mono Craters area since the Pleistocene. To spill out at the south end, the lake would have to reach a level of approximately 7,500'. Moreover, your hydrology is wrong. Water is not drawn down out of a lake by a depression below it. In your take, water is leaving Mono Lake because lakes below it are lower than they were previously ("The water level of Mono Lake has been dropping for decades because a great deal of water that used to end up there instead ends up in other lakes farther south (Owens Lake, for example) because the water level in those farther-south lakes is also dropping."). This is not right. Water builds up in a basin and if there is more inflow than evaporation, water will build up until it overflows and runs downstream to the next depression (in this case, the southern Owens Valley). And this is just a guess, but you probably don't speak for more than about 1% of Northern Californians.
7
Los Angeles has not enough water to support the current population without the water imported from the Owens Valley, the Colorado River, and the Central Valley Canal projects. On the other hand, the Owens Valley provided well watered farm land East of the Sierra range besides the vast dry Great Basin and the Mojave Desert.
Sadly most of the crops grown in the US and California go towards feed for domestic and foreign animals:cattle, poultry and pigs. I am not sure how much fracking is being done in the state of California but that in itself uses vast amounts of clean water and leaves a toxic sludge behind. Isn't it time we address our lifestyle and start making changes? We expected big CHANGE from our government but most of us didn't think it applied to us. I am a guilty as the next but I am taking baby steps to clean up my act.
3
Not true. Less than 10% of food grown in California goes to feed animals. Have you even been here?
1
Chas -- Wrong! Nearly 90% of IRRIGATED agriculture grows cow food (alfalfa etc). That's certainly more than 10% of all food grown in the state. I've lived there. Check out the Water Use reports of the USGS.
2
Regarding the 33,000 sq miles of open land comment: All of the LADWP land in the area (a lot of the area) is all posted with No Trespassing signs, which are enforced. So that isn't accessible. And I'm not sure what else is in that number, but it would seem that most of that number most be otherwise publicly owned land, so this seems like an extremely misleading comment.
It is good this dispute is finally coming to an end. In 1913 the Central Valley was still pretty much the wild west.
Long having destroyed the aboriginal culture by cutting down most of the oaks and soon to enter the yahoo days of oil wildcatters and the nascent Standard Oil this part of our nation has been the stage for much of our less pleasing history.
To finally have the acrimony die out so that we can proceed with making peoples lives better is a welcome change.
Long having destroyed the aboriginal culture by cutting down most of the oaks and soon to enter the yahoo days of oil wildcatters and the nascent Standard Oil this part of our nation has been the stage for much of our less pleasing history.
To finally have the acrimony die out so that we can proceed with making peoples lives better is a welcome change.
3
The waste heat plus a fraction of the electricity created by ten nuclear power plants would desalinate all the drinking water that LA uses. With them we could close some of the aqueducts.
3
Amazing article! The truth is that water will become the new oil sooner or later. In some areas of the country it already is this is why I'm glad LA has owned up to their egregious mistakes. Thanks to Adam Nagourney for reporting on this in prose, so that every young and old reader would be able to comprehend and appreciate this story.
6
William Funderburk says:
“There was no trust,” Mr. Funderburk said. “It’s not an understatement to say that resolving Owens was similar to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Bad blood had just been passed on through the generations.”
Hmm. I think Mr. Funderburk means "overstatement," not "understatement." He would have been better off if he'd chosen the word "exaggeration."
“There was no trust,” Mr. Funderburk said. “It’s not an understatement to say that resolving Owens was similar to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Bad blood had just been passed on through the generations.”
Hmm. I think Mr. Funderburk means "overstatement," not "understatement." He would have been better off if he'd chosen the word "exaggeration."
5
A similar situation has been developing in Nevada where the Southern Nevada Water Authority under Director Pat Mulroy (Chinatown L.A. Water czar was Mulwray - coincidence? Maybe) has gained authority to pipe water from northern Nevada counties to Las Vegas. It's not quite the same thing because Nevada has actual Water Law - riparian (first in time first in right not to exceed annual recharge). California has none for ground water - pump as much as you like and neighbors be damned. In any event, the same arguments are being used to fight the pipeline.
Only because the disputes are entirely within a state can they be dealt with at all. Water which crosses state lines in the Colorado basin is controlled by Interstate Compact where the US Government is also a party. It's basically impossible to gain any traction to solve the interstate shortage of water because it requires almost unanimous agreement. Good luck getting that.
Only because the disputes are entirely within a state can they be dealt with at all. Water which crosses state lines in the Colorado basin is controlled by Interstate Compact where the US Government is also a party. It's basically impossible to gain any traction to solve the interstate shortage of water because it requires almost unanimous agreement. Good luck getting that.
2
Not a word about the Mono Lake Committee in the whole article. How could have the reporter not known about the Committee? It was the Committee, made up at the time primarily of locals, that since 1978 has been battling the LA DWP. The Committee is responsible for every protection of the water that has happened in the Owen Valley. LA DWP has not undertaken the reduction of chemical laden dust by their own volition. They were forced to do it by the Committee's actions.
After many years of opposition to cleaning up their act, the LA DWP has finally entered into a cooperative relationship with the Mono Lake Committee.
After many years of opposition to cleaning up their act, the LA DWP has finally entered into a cooperative relationship with the Mono Lake Committee.
7
The reason the Mono Lake Committee isn't mentioned is that they had exactly nothing to do with the decades of Owens Valley/Owens Lake litigation with DWP--the Owens Valley Committee and Great Basin did. MLC did and continues to do hard, good work on protecting Mono Lake, but not the Owens Lake.
If you'd like to follow ongoing developments on dust control and habitat preservation at the lake, please take a look at my Owens Lake Project at http://www.owenslakeproject.com One thing not mentioned in the article that goes along with the new dust mitigation settlement is the implementation proposed (and beginning to go forward) in the LADWP Master Project. It's a somewhat Pyrrhic victory for those on the Owens Lake side, but the net result will be significant habitat saved and (most important) maintained for the birds and other wildlife who depend on the lake.
There is still much of the story to be told, and much left to unfold.
If you'd like to follow ongoing developments on dust control and habitat preservation at the lake, please take a look at my Owens Lake Project at http://www.owenslakeproject.com One thing not mentioned in the article that goes along with the new dust mitigation settlement is the implementation proposed (and beginning to go forward) in the LADWP Master Project. It's a somewhat Pyrrhic victory for those on the Owens Lake side, but the net result will be significant habitat saved and (most important) maintained for the birds and other wildlife who depend on the lake.
There is still much of the story to be told, and much left to unfold.
A good story about a place with an incredible history, natural and otherwise. Interesting there was no mention of any analysis of environmental effects of tilling on the ecology of the lake bed. I guess "former lake bed" is more apt.
1
Thank you Adam and NYT for your thoughtful coverage of this important story. As an Owens Valley resident, it's great to see that others across the country care for this incredible landscape in much the same ways that we do here in the valley. It's an extremely complex issue, with much more to it than can be covered in one article, but I'm grateful to read about it here. For those that are unfamiliar with the the story, come visit us - the Owens Valley is a life-changing place.
7
I lived in Pasadena for 4 years, during which time I explored a lot of California by car, and one of my favorite areas was the Owens Valley. It's just a beautiful place. Yet I can count on one hand the number of native Southern Californians I met who had ever bothered to drive up there, or who even knew where the water for Los Angeles county came from.
5
My experiences with native S. Californians was that they were the most uninformed, uninterested bunch of people I ever met. They wasted so much, conserved so little and cared even less. I don't miss them.
1
A couple of points -- if the farmers and land owners had had their way, it's quite likely that Owns Lake would still be empty (gone to feed cattle and water orchards upstream). And those small farmers would likely be long gone, subsumed by agribusiness complexes. It's also likely that Lone Pine, Big Pine and Bishop would have larger populations and more pressure on an ecosystem that was always fragile (and may well have collapsed, a la other high desert developments). It's also important to remember that most of the air pollution comes from wind pouring over the crest of the Sierra, picking up dust, and taking it high aloft and then covering much of the Central Basin. As a former resident of the area, I still think of the drive north on 395 from Little Lake to (recovering) Mono Lake (all through land owned by LA) as as a world-class scenic experience, preserved by LA's mania for development. Unintended consequences, indeed.
13
This article on a contemporary resolution for the sins of the past has produced the funniest line in today's Times: "'While people who live here might have resentment of what happened 100 years ago, we also have 33,000 square miles of open land that never got developed,' said Matt Kingsley, an Inyo County supervisor. 'It’s open and accessible. If it was all privately owned, this would be a lot different.'”
Anyone who has ever been to the Owens Valley knows that overdevelopement was not likely to have been a problem anytime in the last century or, probably, even this one. I suppose this quote was inserted as a there's-always-two-sides, fair and balanced (sic) sop to L.A.
Anyone who has ever been to the Owens Valley knows that overdevelopement was not likely to have been a problem anytime in the last century or, probably, even this one. I suppose this quote was inserted as a there's-always-two-sides, fair and balanced (sic) sop to L.A.
4
Owens Valley is beautiful. Did you look at the pictures? With all the Owens River water it would have been heavily developed. The dust was a horror show and land wasn't available or I'd have tried to buy a plot there when I lived in California - along with many thousands of others..
1
Instead of pumping oil from Canada to Texas Why don't we create a Pipeline from Maine to California that circles the country cause when it's dry one place it is always flooding in another. Who cares if it leaks a little. That would create nice places to plant flowers. Please post this idea everywhere you can so it catches on.
3
Sorry, pal, you do not get to drain the Great Lakes, the largest freshwater ecosystem in the world, or even the Finger Lakes to satisfy the unslakable thirst of the Western desert.
Let the people come to the water, not the water to the desert.
Let the people come to the water, not the water to the desert.
12
During the Reagan era I drank from Division Creek at the Sawmill Pass trailhead after descending the seven mile stretch with no water on my way down from Sawmill Pass.
Did the same trail a few years ago intending to drink at the same creek to find it encased in a cast iron pipe bound for the power station below. No water until we hitchhiked back to Independence. Fortuitously it was early in the morning.
From the High Sierra you look down on coastal California in its paper bag brown blanket of pollution and understand the imperative of emission controls.
Part of the dust in the Owens Valley at times is from the Gobi Desert in China. The interconnectedness of the human race on display in California.
Did the same trail a few years ago intending to drink at the same creek to find it encased in a cast iron pipe bound for the power station below. No water until we hitchhiked back to Independence. Fortuitously it was early in the morning.
From the High Sierra you look down on coastal California in its paper bag brown blanket of pollution and understand the imperative of emission controls.
Part of the dust in the Owens Valley at times is from the Gobi Desert in China. The interconnectedness of the human race on display in California.
25
And, from the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in Griffith Park, you look down on the Los Angeles Basin... Well, you can try to do that. What you will actually do is to look down on a blue-black blanket of smog that looks like a storm-cloud fallen to earth. And you will marvel that that there are millions of people living and breathing under that dark, disgusting blanket. You will marvel further that one of those millions is you. You will marvel still further that, as you were driving up Western Avenue, you thought that it was a stereotypically-lovely, clear, Southern California day. Finally, you marvel that, in a few minutes, you're simply going to throw all of this out of your mind, forgetting about it, climb into your car, drive back down into that air pollution, and go home to dinner.
BTW, don't let the "PA" fool you. I lived in Los Angeles for many years and worked for the Department of Water & Power at the now-defunct Harbor Steam Plant, from 1958 to 1970.
BTW, don't let the "PA" fool you. I lived in Los Angeles for many years and worked for the Department of Water & Power at the now-defunct Harbor Steam Plant, from 1958 to 1970.
I note an important omission in all the books mentioned by Commenters, who mostly reference works describing the creation of this situation as opposed to solutions: "The Monkey Wrench Gang", by Edward Abbey.
6
I find this article sad in all that it lacks.
If indeed the "battle" is ending, what about a battle for the care and stewardship of the land. Tilling a dry and saline landscape seems not only a bizarre remedy for dust prevention, but a destructive approach for rehabilitation. There may only be 31,000 people in the region, but what of a landscape without humans? Should we only care about the land we dig for our foundations?
If indeed the "battle" is ending, what about a battle for the care and stewardship of the land. Tilling a dry and saline landscape seems not only a bizarre remedy for dust prevention, but a destructive approach for rehabilitation. There may only be 31,000 people in the region, but what of a landscape without humans? Should we only care about the land we dig for our foundations?
18
I really don't like reading these types of newspaper articles. The problem is that they appear to make the depletion of natural resources okay. Los Angeles has depleted the aquifers and surface water resources of Owens Valley - yet the big celebration is that the dust has been minimized?? We need to step up and say that it is our moral imperative to conserve our natural resources for future generations.
46
Says the guy living in another semi arid region exploding with population growth....
11
You are right. The irresponsible/unsustainable growth that is being promoted in semi-arid regions of Texas has propagated "Owens Valleys" throughout the state. The most glaring example of an out-of-control-population-growth city is San Antonio - they have already constructed multiple tentacles of pipelines to confiscate groundwater from rural counties under the rubric of private property rights and false promises that they won't deplete the aquifers. They know that their actions will harm the aquifers - the state knows that San Antonio's water-hog attitude will harm the aquifers - but the state Legislature fails to act due to the votes and big monies in metropolitan areas. We need our elected representatives to act as statesmen, not politicians. Otherwise, the systematic depletion of our slow-recharging aquifers will continue unabated.
12
I agree. But LA is just an example of modern urbanization, which makes life basically possible for the United States to be the United States. Or we could go back to the southern agricultural model. Wait, that ended in a war. What to do?
Negotiate, take the environment into account and move forward. BTW, the Owens Valley and the especially the Eastern side of the Sierras it abuts is one of the most beautiful places in the world. There is hope for us yet.
Negotiate, take the environment into account and move forward. BTW, the Owens Valley and the especially the Eastern side of the Sierras it abuts is one of the most beautiful places in the world. There is hope for us yet.
Restoration of the Owens Valley Lake would be thee capstone of a long battle to return water to the area, which was drained so LA can have green lawns in their desert. The Courts have helped in the past couple of decades, restoring Mono Lake levels and preventing the diversion of several streams draining into the Owens Valley. With great snow levels on the Sierra side and little getting to the White Mountains, Mammoth remains one of the great California Ski areas.
6
This seems like a good solution. Owens Valley is bordered by the Sierra Escarpment on the west and lower mountains to the east that wall it off from Panamint and Death Valleys; it is one of the most beautiful and desolate places in this country. Driving north on US 395 in 2008 on my way from LA to Death Valley with a quick stop at Manzanar, I felt like I was entering something out of a fantasy novel -passing ancient lava fields in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada, with the rays of afternoon sunshine peeking over the mountains. As I approached Owens Lake, that all changed. Much of the valley south of Lone Pine was full of what I thought was fog. As I got closer, it was evident that it was salt that had been whipped up by the winds coming down the valley. The salt covered everything around, the highway, the car, trees and houses. I can only imagine what it was like to breathe. Later that afternoon on the drive from Manzanar to Death Valley, I skirted the north side of the Lake and noticed dust devils of salt making their way across the dry lake bed. Just a little water here can go a long way. It might even help reestablish some of the agricultural uses of the land that disappeared along with the lake so long ago.
21
White and Inyo mountains make the eastern wall of the Owens Valley.
2
Before picture: https://thisdayinwaterhistory.wordpress.com/tag/owens-valley/
11
"When is enough enough? That was the source of our angst. O.K., we are responsible. When does that responsibility end? When are we done?": this statement gave me the chills when I read it. It seems to be the battle-cry of the slightly-contrite seeker of exculpation - sure we destroyed one of the most beautiful regions of the country, but can't we just forget about it! b/c we know how to take, but we can't quite figure out how to create - meanwhile LA still honors the memory of William Mulholland who was profoundly aware of what he was destroying as he engaged in a subtle campaign of deceitfully procuring farmland and forcefully transferring water rights based upon questionable data. But all we're left with is a band-aide and an "oops" - arguably the instantiation of Eliot's whimper. It is precisely the unaccountability of these large-scale projects that makes them so terrifying; they and their consequences seem beyond the mind of man, and yet the hubris of scientific minds and cost-benefit analyzing MBAs will not allow them to understand that perhaps they cannot fully foresee the impacts of huge oil, mining and other climate-effecting projects - after all, they can always shrug their shoulders after the profit has been made and the effects have become clear and say "oops - but how long are we really responsible for this!" In the end, we are dealing with people that will happily sell their own Mother for a buck, and that is truly chilling.
27
Humans keep on doing stupid things for short term gain and think they can get away with it forever. Destructive exploitation of one area/resource/country/people to benefit the more powerful never ends well, ultimately. The idea that you can endlessly grow a city in a desert is just asinine. Like building nuclear power plants along known highly active fault lines, believing that your engineering genius is going win out every time. Like SInclair said,""It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"
5
Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner, revised edition, Penguin USA, (1993), ISBN 0-14-017824-4
"A revealing, absorbing, often amusing and alarming report on where billions of their (tax) dollars have gone - and where a lot more are going." NYTs
"A revealing, absorbing, often amusing and alarming report on where billions of their (tax) dollars have gone - and where a lot more are going." NYTs
14
I love that book, and have re-read it several times. It is an excellent documentation of the Western water wars and the arrogance and incompetence of the U.S. government in moving water resources around the country to provide cheap water to agriculture. It is also a cautionary tale for those of us in the Great Lakes Region, as drier areas of the country, including the Southwest, look to our beautiful lakes with greed.
3
Destruction of one area of the state for the advantage of another. I have been watching the fight for 50 years and neither side really won. Destroying a 100 long valley so more people can have cheaper water in LA. Wonderful.
15
Have you ever noticed how green the lawns in Los Angeles are year round?
Here in Silicon Valley our lawns go brown much of the year, especially when there is a drought, yet those in Los Angeles and some other areas to the south are always green and lush.
Visit Palm Springs when it is hot and enjoy being spritzed with water as you walk along the street in the business area.
Hotels in Los Angeles do not have flow reducers. It's a great showed, the likes of which I haven't had since I was young and in New York City.
Why is water less available during a drought in the San Francisco Bay area than it is in Los Angeles and some of the surrounding desert communities?
Here in Silicon Valley our lawns go brown much of the year, especially when there is a drought, yet those in Los Angeles and some other areas to the south are always green and lush.
Visit Palm Springs when it is hot and enjoy being spritzed with water as you walk along the street in the business area.
Hotels in Los Angeles do not have flow reducers. It's a great showed, the likes of which I haven't had since I was young and in New York City.
Why is water less available during a drought in the San Francisco Bay area than it is in Los Angeles and some of the surrounding desert communities?
12
Cry us a river, JW. The Bay Area pirated water from the Hetch Hetchy decades ago. Weren't you folks complaining about the torrential floods just a few weeks ago?
1
Water has been at the center of this and many other disputes, and here in Arizona, we seem to be on a path to an similar extremely rough course as climate shift seems to have started discussions between major water for agriculture and residential/industrial users. A major force is the Salt River Project which set the water diversion systems up nearly two centuries ago. Now they are working to stymie solar power from individual users. It is run by an elected group whose votes are based on acres of land. No 'one man, one vote' here. Does this look familiar?
9
I wish this was a true victory for the planet. Small, very small issue with this article, couldn't you find a before picture of the lake? It only took me a few minutes to find one.
6
Why no mention of Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner? it highlights the Owens Valley debacle, and is a necessary read for anyone wanting to know how this all came about, California's long history of water woes.
23
Wonderful book… great advise.
1
Noah Cross: "The future, Mr. Gittes! The future."
3
And Jake Gittes: "If you really want to know what's going on, you follow the money"...
2
"Instead of flooding the lake bed with nearly 25 billion gallons of Los Angeles water..."
It's not LA's water. The problem in the Owens Valley wouldn't even exist if LA hadn't stolen their water in the first place. And for what? To feed LA swimming pools, lawns, golf courses, and all without even water meters.
It's not LA's water. The problem in the Owens Valley wouldn't even exist if LA hadn't stolen their water in the first place. And for what? To feed LA swimming pools, lawns, golf courses, and all without even water meters.
28
Water use is most definitely metered in the city of LA. I have lived in California for more than 20 years of my life, in 7 different cities, and the water has always been metered. I agree that there are too many lawns, pools, and golf courses in LA. However, the city also has 4 million residents that depend on the water. The whole of the city of LA is not one giant Palm Springs as you fantasize.
3
Of course it's LA's water! While the method of attaining the water rights were sneaky, they were neither illegal, nor immoral. "Straw" buyers are used very often in real estate transactions.
Knowing this history for many decades, I'm surprised no one ever got upset at the ranchers and farmers who sold out. Must have been near all of them, judging by the complete drainage of the Owens River. Guess only LA is greedy, not them, huh?
As a Colorado politician, I believe, observed many years ago, "Water flows uphill towards money." Start with that reality and not claims of lack of ownership. Heck, I thought the fish and the beaver owned it.
Knowing this history for many decades, I'm surprised no one ever got upset at the ranchers and farmers who sold out. Must have been near all of them, judging by the complete drainage of the Owens River. Guess only LA is greedy, not them, huh?
As a Colorado politician, I believe, observed many years ago, "Water flows uphill towards money." Start with that reality and not claims of lack of ownership. Heck, I thought the fish and the beaver owned it.
4
Now remove the damn at Hetch Hetchy and let that great valley dry out and become the second Yosemite.
Fat chance of that happening, but some of us dream of the day when the dam will just silt up and overflow or just break apart in a quake.
Fat chance of that happening, but some of us dream of the day when the dam will just silt up and overflow or just break apart in a quake.
15
Hetch Hetchy is a completely different story. The resulting lake created behind the dam is beautiful and does not lead to a dust bowl or salt desert.
The area that Hetch Hetchy serves is well aware of when droughts occur and careful to conserve water, especially in the cities--brown lawns and few individual swimming pools and each property has its own water meter and pays a lot for water.
There is no comparison with Owens Lake and water pulled to Los Angeles.
The area that Hetch Hetchy serves is well aware of when droughts occur and careful to conserve water, especially in the cities--brown lawns and few individual swimming pools and each property has its own water meter and pays a lot for water.
There is no comparison with Owens Lake and water pulled to Los Angeles.
1
SpikeTheDog: Great sentiment but the City of San Francisco gets almost all of its water from Hetch Hetchy. What is your proposition for replacing the water? This isn't Marblehead here on the West Coast. You have all the water, we have all the people.
3
Most of Hetch Hetchy is inaccessible to the average person, because you can't go boating on the lake, and there is only one campground at its westernmost part, and none in the flooded valley. So although it might be beautiful, if you could forget how much nicer it would have been before being flooded, really it can't be enjoyed like King's Canyon or Yosemite.
So I think they can be compared, Owens Lake being a natural resource lost to water wars without a fight (thanks to skullduggery) and Hetch Hetchy being lost after a long fight for the same reasons.
So I think they can be compared, Owens Lake being a natural resource lost to water wars without a fight (thanks to skullduggery) and Hetch Hetchy being lost after a long fight for the same reasons.
1
Yes, I erred. It's early here on the left coast; please switch Jack and Roman as doctor and patient.
1
Ironic. If the water had stayed in Owens Valley there would be wall to wall condominiums there today.
10
Been to Owens Valley? It's not Tahoe.
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@ truth...... no it isn't tahoe and tahoe isn't tahoe anymore. it's a theme park for people that do not know or remember what made this place so special. it has been ruined by too many people building houses and driving around in vehicles that have "keep tahoe blue" bumper stickers. the lake is dying and everyone that lives thee or has rented a room or a ski cabin is part of the problem.
6
Is this history similar to the development of the aqueduct system in New York City?
"agents working for Los Angeles, posing as farmers or ranchers, bought up much of the valley in search of water to meet the needs of a metropolis "
not true. they posed as agents for the federal government that were in the valley in advance of a giant water project to bring a better irrigation system to the farmers and ranchers. the eventual geologist for the aqueduct, a mr.lippincott, had actually been know to locals as a geologist for the dept. of interior, so they believed. they did not represent that they were taking water for the city of LA..
the scam was "we can't do this beneficial project without your water rights" it was a complete scam.
not true. they posed as agents for the federal government that were in the valley in advance of a giant water project to bring a better irrigation system to the farmers and ranchers. the eventual geologist for the aqueduct, a mr.lippincott, had actually been know to locals as a geologist for the dept. of interior, so they believed. they did not represent that they were taking water for the city of LA..
the scam was "we can't do this beneficial project without your water rights" it was a complete scam.
28
The DWP depleted the water flow, and during an early depression, when the farmers did not have any crops to sell, the banks which had been taken over by the DWP financiers, foreclosed on them, getting the land and water rights almost free.
That is when the real wars started, and the canal was dynamited among other actions.
That is when the real wars started, and the canal was dynamited among other actions.
4
@ david..... true. i have done title research for the prospective buyers of several pieces of property in the owens valley and the handwritten records at the county office show a second wave of land being transferred to the city of los angeles. these transactions go on for several uninterrupted pages at times.
3
@coale johnson
I have hiked out of Horseshoe meadows several times. I am in the Sierra Peaks Section of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club.
I took and interest in the valley in the 1960s as I used to drive from LA to Bridgeport to hunt in the Rickey Peak area. Looked into starting a auto repair and garage business in Bishop, but research led me to believe it would take at least two years to be profitable and did not have enough reserve to do that.
There was a gas station just past Inyokern owned by a man named Steinmetz. I would stop for gas there as he had the best prices around. My old service buddy worked at China Lake.
The garage in Bishop was owned by a man named Pembar. He was always very helpful also. So I took and interest in the valley. You may know Michael Prather who has been very active in getting LA to prevent the air pollution from Owens Lake. You can find him on Facebook under Owens Lake.
I also used to stop at the Little Lake Hotel when they had a restaurant. My favorite trailhead was Taboose Pass,
I have hiked out of Horseshoe meadows several times. I am in the Sierra Peaks Section of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club.
I took and interest in the valley in the 1960s as I used to drive from LA to Bridgeport to hunt in the Rickey Peak area. Looked into starting a auto repair and garage business in Bishop, but research led me to believe it would take at least two years to be profitable and did not have enough reserve to do that.
There was a gas station just past Inyokern owned by a man named Steinmetz. I would stop for gas there as he had the best prices around. My old service buddy worked at China Lake.
The garage in Bishop was owned by a man named Pembar. He was always very helpful also. So I took and interest in the valley. You may know Michael Prather who has been very active in getting LA to prevent the air pollution from Owens Lake. You can find him on Facebook under Owens Lake.
I also used to stop at the Little Lake Hotel when they had a restaurant. My favorite trailhead was Taboose Pass,
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Forget it, Adam: It's Owens Valley.
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Forget it, Adam: It's Owens Valley.
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You know how we cherish our lakes here in NY. Owens Lake used to be a huge, beautiful, real lake also. Before Los Angeles, there used to be steam ships on that lake going across from one set of mountains to the other. Try to visualize Cayuga Lake empty.
4
This is the type of story liberals live for. Why should 31,000 people who weren't even alive at the time be able to impact tens of millions around LA, reach into the pockets of taxpayers, and affect farming and commerce that benefit the whole country? How hard would it be just to relocate these 31,000? China cleared over 1,000,000 people from three huge river valleys in 90 days to build the world's largest hydroelectric dam at the end of the last century, yet we wonder why they're cleaning our clock. It amazes me that the communists understand capitalism better than we do.
4
OMG ... have you even been to the valley? Seriously beautiful, but the agriculture and ranching that was there was almost completely destroyed. From Bishop to Lone Pine, there is little left. Perhaps you have a road trip in your future. And relocating .... the generations of locals there might have a problem with that. Might also reinforce their attitude that eastern urbanites just don't get it.
How easy it is to dismiss a region without knowing anything about it. Like the singer Steve Forbert said, "nothing really matters until it's closer than the house next door"
How easy it is to dismiss a region without knowing anything about it. Like the singer Steve Forbert said, "nothing really matters until it's closer than the house next door"
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Sure. Let's follow the lead of China which is polluting its environment, maltreating its rural population and is generally a nasty totalitarian state. Sure. LA wants the water so destroy a natural paradise, move the people out, destroy their lives and turn paradise into a dust bowl the way it happened with the Aral Sea in central Asia, another environmental disaster. I can just about see your response when someone comes take half your front yard for a road-widening project - or your whole property. I'm sure you'll go quietly, is that correct?
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"Why should 31,000 people who weren't even alive at the time be able to impact tens of millions....." you ask.
Well, in the same spirit, how many of the tens of millions were alive when
Los Angeles stole Owens Valley water. Stole mind you. Stole. Thievery. What don't you get?
Well, in the same spirit, how many of the tens of millions were alive when
Los Angeles stole Owens Valley water. Stole mind you. Stole. Thievery. What don't you get?
31
The old-timers are gone but they used to describe the Owens River Valley as a Garden of Eden. The valley runs a little over 100 miles, roughly from Bishop to Little Lake.
I used to imagine it as I drove from Los Angeles to Reno. Towering mountains to the west, a lush valley to the east. But it's just s a nice dream. Today it's just a dusty part of the high desert on the eastern side of the Sierras. Part of the price of progress.
I used to imagine it as I drove from Los Angeles to Reno. Towering mountains to the west, a lush valley to the east. But it's just s a nice dream. Today it's just a dusty part of the high desert on the eastern side of the Sierras. Part of the price of progress.
20
We've actually travelled to Owens Valley twice, on purpose. Bishop and Lone Pine are charming small towns (don't miss the Lone Pine movie museum and the Alabama Hills).
If the dust can be controlled, all the better. But that 25 billion gallons "wasted" sure could be used to supplant the orchards whose bones are still visible.
If the dust can be controlled, all the better. But that 25 billion gallons "wasted" sure could be used to supplant the orchards whose bones are still visible.
Wait, the daughter was also the mother?
14
She's her sister and her daughter.
3
Believe it or not, Death Valley was once a massive lake that supported a vibrant native community. The earth changes, quickly sometimes, but it is the man-made disasters that are most appalling. I love California, especially the Central Coast, but I also venture to the mountains in the eastern parts of California, where I have to drive through areas that look post-apocalyptic: haze, dust, poor visibility and a frightening array of strange characters. You eventually exit the nightmare and enter the Sierra mountains. My back to the disaster, I regain hope again.
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Most of that pollution isn't just dust - it's trapped exhaust from millions of cars.
A great environmental success story for what it is. Thanks for your fight Mr. Schade.
16
The last time I heard the phrase "mission accomplished" it was anything but that.
9
Can you imagine what our world would be like today with more people like Ted Schade willing/determined/committed to fight the good fight on a host of fronts? We need many more people like Mr. Schade to help lead us through both sides of this all too common equation in our civic life: to find light and compromises in the most vexing, intractable of situations and, at the same time, to draw lines in the sand that are not in our collective best interests to cross. Helps, to be sure, to have a politicians like Eric Garcetti come along to stop perpetually moving these hot potato balls on from one administration to the next, unresolved. But in recent decades, I have come across countless cases where too many people like Mr. Schade--both those working in and out of government--faced a dearth of other more involved citizenry to have their backs, clear the brush, rally them on, etc. Bravo also to Adam Nagourney for reporting on this particular saga in prose that every reader, young and old, will be able to comprehend and appreciate. What a great civil society case study full of teachable moments this story will make!
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the article does not make much of it but they completely demonized him within their organization (DWP). top down denigration of ted's character was done in an effort to turn local opinion in the valley against him and great basin. luckily there are plenty of smart people around here that would to fall for it.
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Thank you for the kind words. It was an honor to spend 24 years fighting to fix this disaster.
5
Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown.
11
I'm glad LA has owned up to their egregious mistakes. Water already is the new oil in many areas of the country.
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Better yet, LA should stop trying to grab water from northern CA. Think the Peripheral Canal that never happened thanks to sensible voters up north. More recently a similar proposition passed. This is most unfortunate.
Those of us in northern CA might be more ready to share water with the south, including inland farmers if: 1. they did not keep lush green lawns everywhere; 2. sprinklers were banned as an agricultural method of watering plants; 3. water meters were placed on each individual property/housing unit and people were charged individually for water use; 4. personal swimming pools were banned; 5. flow restricters were placed on all shower heads and bathtubs removed from homes and hotels. In other words, when LA learns to conserve water, maybe northern CA will consider graciously sharing some of ours.
Those of us in northern CA might be more ready to share water with the south, including inland farmers if: 1. they did not keep lush green lawns everywhere; 2. sprinklers were banned as an agricultural method of watering plants; 3. water meters were placed on each individual property/housing unit and people were charged individually for water use; 4. personal swimming pools were banned; 5. flow restricters were placed on all shower heads and bathtubs removed from homes and hotels. In other words, when LA learns to conserve water, maybe northern CA will consider graciously sharing some of ours.
4
Los Angeles should be congratulated for creating the perception that they have addressed the problems with Owens Lake. You need to see the lake to appreciate the ongoing disaster there. The lake bed remains the single largest source of airborne pollutants in the U.S. and none of the dust abatement methods that LA DWP has started have proven effective. I've seen one area (about 10 acres of the 70,000 acre lake bed) on the north end of the lake with gravel that appears to reduce the dust effectively, but that was done for a new solar power demonstration project. The rest of the lake bed looks like a giant construction site getting ripped apart.
10
So, on the plus side, there is 33,000 square miles of open, undeveloped land in Inyo County. Well sure there is -- because there is no water there! Turn off the water supply to LA and that area would become open and undeveloped as well.
35
I wonder how many schemers have pondered the notion of piggybacking a waterline alongside the XL Pipeline for a time then send it hard right once it's in the breadbasket of the country, one that would bleed water from the Great Lakes and direct it to Owens Valley and beyond. Can't you just here them?...... "All that water that's just going to go over Niagara Falls anyway. All that wasted water."
3
They won't need to drain the Great Lakes if they protect the Ogallala Aquifer that is threatened by the KLX Pipeline.
3
Better idea: convert Keystone XL to carry water instead to the west coast.
Owens Lake drained down to the last drop by the mid-1920s, and Mono Lake that just barely escaped the same fate (read: Hart, John: Storm over Mono for a highly interesting and readable account of the battle to keep that lake alive), all because of Caliofornian profligacy with resources that seem infinite but are not thus.
As to combatting the dust from the dry bed of this former lake, I have serious doubts if tilling that area will work. It all depends on prevailing winds and their direction. If tilling is effected in one direction alone, the wind will gain extra purchase, especially in the proposed three-foot-high furrows, resulting in new and improved dust storms. Sprinkling furrows may sound very effective, provided the sprinkling is intensive and frequent enough in the beginning to make the salts and minerals contained in the old lake bed form a crust over the surfaces of said furrows, thus preventing dust storms, but the idea that those furrows will act as "scrubbers" to remove haze from the air - which is carried up to a mile high - seems to me more than a little naive.
In essence flooding that area would be the soundest method. Wet dust becomes mud and mud cannot be blown away.
As to combatting the dust from the dry bed of this former lake, I have serious doubts if tilling that area will work. It all depends on prevailing winds and their direction. If tilling is effected in one direction alone, the wind will gain extra purchase, especially in the proposed three-foot-high furrows, resulting in new and improved dust storms. Sprinkling furrows may sound very effective, provided the sprinkling is intensive and frequent enough in the beginning to make the salts and minerals contained in the old lake bed form a crust over the surfaces of said furrows, thus preventing dust storms, but the idea that those furrows will act as "scrubbers" to remove haze from the air - which is carried up to a mile high - seems to me more than a little naive.
In essence flooding that area would be the soundest method. Wet dust becomes mud and mud cannot be blown away.
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I guess they could just concrete the whole darn thing and turn it into a skate park.
Profligacy? We use much less water and energy on a per capita basis than people do in any other state!
I have in front of my house another dry lake and during the summer, dust devils occur over the area.
It is actually the original Big Bear Lake - while the grizzlies ruled there and the artificial Big Bear Lake a few miles to the west did not exist.
I bought the house in 2005 when the lake (now called Baldwin Lake) was full of water. Never since...
No movie was inspired by this lake but there was no aqueduct from here to anywhere else... And we are 100 miles east, not north of LA.
It is actually the original Big Bear Lake - while the grizzlies ruled there and the artificial Big Bear Lake a few miles to the west did not exist.
I bought the house in 2005 when the lake (now called Baldwin Lake) was full of water. Never since...
No movie was inspired by this lake but there was no aqueduct from here to anywhere else... And we are 100 miles east, not north of LA.
5
A couple of years ago I stayed at a motel just outside the town of Lone Pine on my way over the mountain pass to Death Valley. There is an Indian Reservation in Lone Pine as well as some fantastic rock formations known as the Alabama Hills. Owens Lake at the time had some very brackish water but the vast space beyond was desert dry. The naysayers today as in yesteryear didn't take seriously that our natural resources are finite. This wonderfully researched article should be emailed to every congressman and senator as a reminder that protecting our natural resources is serious business and their responsibility.
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"This wonderfully researched article should be emailed to every congressman and senator...."
You are 100% right. But, most of the congressmen/women and senators apparently don't read; and they CERTAINLY don't think they have a responsibility to anyone/thing except their richest donors--I.E. the people doing the MOST to destroy our shared planet and resources.
You are 100% right. But, most of the congressmen/women and senators apparently don't read; and they CERTAINLY don't think they have a responsibility to anyone/thing except their richest donors--I.E. the people doing the MOST to destroy our shared planet and resources.
3
something else not generally known is that DWP and the BIA established the reservations in the owens valley after DWP realized that the native americans could be the ones with the real water rights and were living in the riparian areas DWP coveted. they gave the paiute/shoshone some land and water and took the real prize. this issue has NEVER been addressed. the only nod in the direction of the native americans is that during this dust control project they try to be sensitive to the vast treasure trove of native american artifacts and grave sites that are on and around the lake bed. some of the stuff they have found is so old it does;t even belong to the paiute and they have been here for thousands of years. they have also found the place where the US cavalry drove the paiute, many women and children included, into the lake and then massacred them.
i would hope there is a way to honor these people but to make theses sites public is to invite looters. very sad.
i would hope there is a way to honor these people but to make theses sites public is to invite looters. very sad.
2
Very interesting, but some holes: what happens now to the water from the melted snow that used to renew the lake water levels every Spring? It must go somewhere; still to the LA aquifers? I'd like to see a "Chinatown II" while Jack Nicholson is still in good shape, and maybe we'll get the full story! Thanks.
1
Chinatown is bad fiction. Remi Nadeau's The Water Seekers is an excellent history.
The LA DWP has diversion channels from most of the streams that flow out of the east side of the Sierra into the LA Aquaduct. That carries almost all of the snow melt from the east side of the Sierra to LA. The lake is almost completely dry. Ted Schade took a pragmatic approach to the limited problem of dust control on a destroyed ecosystem, and even in that role has left more than half the dry lake bed out of the agreement. The lake bed is currently the largest single point of airborne pollutants in the U.S. Los Angeles has destroyed the lake and agreed to further maim the lake bed to end the disputes, but my bet is that as the damage becomes better understood over the next decades the dispute will continue.
The LA DWP has diversion channels from most of the streams that flow out of the east side of the Sierra into the LA Aquaduct. That carries almost all of the snow melt from the east side of the Sierra to LA. The lake is almost completely dry. Ted Schade took a pragmatic approach to the limited problem of dust control on a destroyed ecosystem, and even in that role has left more than half the dry lake bed out of the agreement. The lake bed is currently the largest single point of airborne pollutants in the U.S. Los Angeles has destroyed the lake and agreed to further maim the lake bed to end the disputes, but my bet is that as the damage becomes better understood over the next decades the dispute will continue.
9
I'd bet alongside you. "Tilling" soil in an arid windy climate makes me think of the great plains and the dust bowl. The idea that furrow of dirt will "scrub" the air clean does not sound like an ironclad solution.
5
The story somewhat simplifies the solution. The only areas that can be tilled are those with a flooding infrastructure that will allow tilled areas to be reflooded when the tillage starts to break down. Five tests have been developed to monitor the condition of tilled areas. If a tilled site fails any of the tests, LA must immediately reflood the area within 30 days. We are actually calling the measure "Tilling with Flooding Backup." Once an area is reflooded, it can be dried and tilled again.
8
Credit goes to LA and Bay Area residents for huge water conservation efforts to allow the survival of Mono Lake, a critical stop on the Pacific migratory flyway.
Meanwhile 80% of CA water still goes to agriculture, most of it wasted on hay, alfalfa, rice and cotton, much less on fruits and vegetables than is widely believed. The hay and alfalfa, requiring almost no US labor, is shipped to China for beef production.
Trading hay for i-phones is a 3rd world trade policy.
Meanwhile 80% of CA water still goes to agriculture, most of it wasted on hay, alfalfa, rice and cotton, much less on fruits and vegetables than is widely believed. The hay and alfalfa, requiring almost no US labor, is shipped to China for beef production.
Trading hay for i-phones is a 3rd world trade policy.
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Mono Lake is spectacular, but it is a saline soda lake and not a god source of drinking water. Not sure why LA was tying to drain it too; if they looking for salty water they might as well use the massive body next to them known as the Pacific Ocean.
5
LA DWP doesn't take water from Mono Lake. They divert the streams that would normally flow into Mono Lake into the LA Aqueduct.
6
Ron: They drained it by taking the water further upstream on the Owens River at what is now Lake Crowley. The water is diverted there to the Los Angeles Aqueduct. The result is minimal water makes it 70 or so miles further downstream to Owens Lake.
This is a very interesting valley with much to see and explore, from the Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains, with 4800 (?) year old trees, to lots of Sierra trailheads and leads up into Mammoth and the Anselm Adams Wilderness Area with spectacular views of the Sierra. It's quite dramatic. It's wonderful that it is nearly all public land.
This is a very interesting valley with much to see and explore, from the Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains, with 4800 (?) year old trees, to lots of Sierra trailheads and leads up into Mammoth and the Anselm Adams Wilderness Area with spectacular views of the Sierra. It's quite dramatic. It's wonderful that it is nearly all public land.
7
Great article...truly interesting because water will soon become the new oil. And for you readers out there, you haven't seen CHINATOWN, conceived and written by the brilliant screenwriter Robert Towne, starring Jack Nicholson and John Huston, that this article refers to, then you haven't seen one of the top 10 films ever made. The best twist ending of all time. And, thanks again for the article.
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Agreed! But I would have mentioned Faye Dunaway in full-on DIVA mode.
Omitting the director's name, however, was intentional (I hope).
Agreed! But I would have mentioned Faye Dunaway in full-on DIVA mode.
Omitting the director's name, however, was intentional (I hope).
9
You are correct, an excellent movie.
7
Towne won the Oscar for best screenplay for 'Chinatown' but I adore 'Shampoo' for which Towne received a nomination. I did some reading, Towne is on staff for final season of 'Mad Men'.
There It Is—Take It! is a free, self-guided 90-minute car audio tour through Owens Valley, California along U.S. Route 395 examining the controversial social, political, and environmental history of the Los Angeles Aqueduct system. The tour illuminates various impacts this divisive water conveyance infrastructure has created within the Owens Valley over the last one hundred years of the aqueduct's existence. Stories of the aqueduct are told from multiple perspectives and viewpoints through the voices of historians, biologists, activists, native speakers, environmentalists, litigators, LADWP employees, and residents from both Los Angeles and the Owens Valley. This project was supported, in part, by Cal Humanities. This audio tour can be listened to online from the project website.