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Council proclaims Mono Lake Day, highlights 30-year restoration and water-supply trade-offs
Summary
Councilmembers recognized Mono Lake Day and heard presentations from LADWP and the Mono Lake Committee on 30 years of restoration work, water-rights trade-offs and the lake’s ongoing recovery. Officials emphasized the basin’s ecological gains and warned that losing remaining water rights would increase replacement costs for Angelenos.
The Los Angeles City Council marked Mono Lake Day on Sept. 26 with presentations from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Mono Lake Committee detailing three decades of ecosystem restoration and the trade-offs required to protect the lake while meeting urban water needs.
Councilmember Adrien Nazarian opened remarks by calling Mono Lake’s recovery “one of California’s most significant environmental success stories.” Jaime Valenzuela, manager for Owens Lake and Mono Basin policy and planning at LADWP, summarized the agency’s restoration work, saying DWP had reduced tributary diversions by 85% since the State Water Resources Control Board decision and that the aqueduct exports from Mono Basin are limited by law (a maximum of 16,000 acre-feet, with a 10-year average of about 9,200 acre-feet).
Valenzuela and other presenters listed investments and outcomes: nearly $50 million invested in restoration and habitat enhancement in the Mono Basin; approximately 20 miles of tributary streams restored; more than 800 acres of wetlands restored; and a gradual lake-level rise of roughly 10 feet since protections were implemented. Officials also noted planned work to modify Grama Lake with estimated costs “over $200 million,” and stressed that lake levels still depend on multi-year hydrology.
Jeff McQuilkin, executive director of the Mono Lake Committee, urged continued commitment to the lake and framed the 1994 State Water Resources Control Board decision (Decision 16-31) as a collaborative path that balanced environmental protection with urban water needs. McQuilkin invited Angelenos to visit Mono Lake and described the basin’s ecological and recreational value.
Council members emphasized the economic and reliability value of Mono Basin water. Valenzuela said that losing the city’s remaining water rights in the Mono Basin could cost Angelenos an additional $24 million to $80 million per year in replacement water costs, figures he presented as a planning estimate tied to higher-cost imported supplies.
Ending: The council presented a resolution recognizing Mono Lake Day and asked staff to continue balancing local water investments with environmental stewardship.
