Mono Lake Tribe Seeks to Assert Water Rights, Calls for Emergency Halt of Water Diversions to Los Angeles

Photo: A grove of tufa towers along the south shore of Mono Lake, California, where long-term drought, global warming and water diversions threaten an ancient ecosystem. Credit: Bob Berwyn

[H2O IQ editor’s note: also see the immediately following post of LADWP’s assertion that no emergency conditions exist.]

Kootzaduka’a say the state water board should live up to its recently adopted environmental justice promises to save their cultural and natural heritage.

Against the backdrop of a severe drought linked with global warming , conservation advocates and Native Americans in California are calling for a temporary emergency stop to all surface water diversions from Mono Lake, contending that continuing to drain the watershed, along with the long-term drought, threaten critical ecosystems, as well as the Kootzaduka’a tribe’s cultural connection with the lake.

In a pair of letters written in December 2022, the Mono Lake Committee and California Indian Legal Services claimed that Mono Lake’s water has dropped to a level requiring emergency action, and asked that all surface water diversions be curtailed until the lake’s elevation gets closer to an elevation of 6,392 feet. That was set as a protective level for Mono by the state in 1994, but the lake has never come close to reaching it.

The emergency request will be considered on Feb. 15 during a public workshop arranged by the California State Water Resources Control Board . The input session will be livestreamed and the public can sign up […]

Full article: Mono Lake Tribe Seeks to Assert Its Water Rights in Call For Emergency Halt of Water Diversions to Los Angeles

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