Mono Lake water levels are well below what's required. Now some want L.A. to tighten its tap

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More than three decades after a landmark decision called for Los Angeles to limit its taking of water to raise the level of Mono Lake, California regulators are reexamining why the lake still hasn’t rebounded and what should be done about it.At the request of state water officials, UCLA climate scientists developed a new model to analyze why the lake remains far below its state-mandated target level.In a new report, they said that without L.A.’s use of water from creeks that feed the lake, its waters would be about 4 feet higher — closer to that required threshold.

“The way the exports are regulated, meeting lake level objectives is unlikely,” Alex Hall, a UCLA climate scientist, told members of the California State Water Resources Control Board at a meeting Tuesday.While his UCLA team estimated that climate change has also played a role, keeping Mono Lake about 2.6 feet lower than it would otherwise be, the researchers concluded that halting L.A.’s water exports would roughly double the likelihood of the lake reaching its target level within the next 20 years.In a 1994 decision, state water regulators required the L.A.Department of Water and Power to limit diversions and take steps to raise the lake level 17 feet.

Mono Lake is now higher than it was then, but is still about 9 feet below the required level.DWP managers said they have questions and want to vet the UCLA analysis.

Climate & Environment Los Angeles uses water from creeks that feed Mono Lake.Three decades after a decision that was intended to save the lake, environmental advocates say L.A.

needs to do more.Eric Tillemans, DWP’s interim aqueduct manager, told the state board that the city’s studies have found Mono Lake’s levels are “more dependent on precipitation, evaporation and runoff than any other factors.”“It’s highly technical and a scientifically novel modeling effort, but it wa...