This year marks two decades since the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) issued its landmark decision on water diversions affecting Mono Lake and its tributaries. Known as Water Right Decision 1631 (D1631), the ruling amended the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's (LADWP) water rights, setting required flow levels for Mono Basin streams and a level of 6,392 feet for Mono Lake. D1631 was the culmination of a series of landmark court cases that began more than 30 years ago. It was the first decision in the state's history to integrate California’s water code, Fish and Game code, and the common law of public trust.
The Mono @ 20 Symposium, held on November 17th in Sacramento, brought together experts from multiple disciplines to distill the lessons learned from 20 years of concerted effort to implement the decision. In addition to reviewing progress in implementing D1631 over the past two decades, the panelists and speakers explored what the decisions mean for other water rights such as those involving the Delta and the Central Valley.
The Long Road
Water first started flowing from the Mono Basin streams to Los Angeles in 1941, and by the early 1980s the volume of Mono Lake had fallen by half and the lake's salinity had doubled due to the heavy diversion of water from its feeder streams. The world-class brown trout fishery in Rush and Lee Vining Creeks had disappeared. In simple terms, Mono Lake and its tributaries were in a state of ecological collapse, and the struggle to save the Mono Basin began. As early as the 1970s, the National Audubon Society and the Mono Lake Committee tried unsuccessfully to force LADWP to put some water back in key tributaries by invoking the public trust doctrine. In the National Audubon Society v. Superior Court 1983 decision, the Supreme Court of California held that the vested water rights of Los Angeles could be adjusted to protect the public trust. This decision was historic because it expanded the traditional application of public trust beyond the realm of fishing in navigable waters to now encompass the broader protection of fish, habitat, and ecosystems.
CalTrout stepped into the fight in the 1980s, arguing that a long-ignored section of the state's Fish and Game code (Section 5937) required LADWP to leave enough water below its dams to keep fish "in good condition." In 1985, the lawsuit, that would eventually be known as CalTrout I, pitted the public's right to a fishery (that existed prior to LADWP's diversions) against LADWP's claims to all the water in Rush Creek. The judge eventually sided with CalTrout and --
Mono @20
This year marks two decades since the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) issued its landmark decision on water diversions affecting Mono Lake and its tributaries. What have we learned since?
Photo: Sean Davis