Patsiata (also known as Owens Lake) is a drained lake that sits in the southern end of Payahuunadü. Harry Williams, an elder and Water Protector from the Bishop Paiute Tribe, coined this term. While many call it the “dry lake,” he argued that this term lets the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) off the hook.¹ The natural process of a lake drying typically takes centuries or even thousands of years. This slow drying safely traps salts and other compounds within soil and sediment as the lake dries.² In contrast to this slow, natural process over centuries, LADWP drained Patsiata in about fifteen years.³

For thousands of years, snowmelt from the Eastern Sierra Nevada flowed down the valley into Patsiata. This pattern is typical for many valleys of the Great Basin, where ecosystems depend on similar saline terminal lakes. LADWP has denied Patsiata its rightful water for over a century: it diverts the water into the Los Angeles Aqueduct instead of letting it flow into Patsiata. Without its influx of water, Patsiata shrunk, until the third-largest lake in California was completely dry.

Salt crust on Patsiata. Photo credit: Lauren Kelly

This accelerated desiccation of Patsiata created an air pollution disaster and devastated the ecosystems that depended on the lake. Salts, arsenic, and other minerals sat on the surface of the dry playa. The wind swept these particles into fierce dust storms for decades. In fact, Patsiata became the largest source of PM-10 dust pollution in the country by the mid-1980s.⁴ Many Payahuunadü residents and those who live south of the valley have reported suffering with a wide range of respiratory diseases and other severe health impacts.⁵

In recent years, LADWP has implemented court-ordered dust control measures. These new systems have reduced PM-10 pollution and allowed birds to start using Patsiata again as a stopover on their migrations south each year on the Pacific flyway.⁶ However, at every opportunity, LADWP has avoided simply allowing water to re-enter the lake through its ancient riverbed along the Owens River. Instead, they installed 48.6 square miles of dust mitigation measures, including shallow flooding, managed vegetation, gravel, and tillage. These man-made interventions cost Los Angeles rate-payers $2.5 billion dollars.⁷ 

Check out the cameras that the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District (GBUAPCD) maintains as part of monitoring air quality on Patsiata:

Watch how Patsiata filled up with water as staggering levels of runoff filled the valley during the 2023-2024 runoff year.

During the enormous runoff year in 2023, more snowmelt flooded the valley than LADWP could control. The water remembered its path to Patsiata. More water filled the lake than in most residents’ living memory. Many folks urged LADWP to maintain a similar water level in Patsiata going forward.⁸ Restoring the lake would improve the wellbeing of both the natural landscape and the people who live here. Unfortunately, LADWP did not heed these calls. They let the water on the lake evaporate until the previous status quo had been restored. 

ESWA believes that we need to embrace water itself as the way forward for Patsiata. We look for any opportunity to encourage the long-term reintroduction of water into Patsiata. At the moment, there are no active policy fights on this front. However, we will remain vigilant and update the public when there are opportunities to mobilize for Patsiata.

Footnotes:

¹ Harry Williams, “Concrete is Fluid” podcast, March 13, 2019.

² “Lake,” Encyclopedia Entry, National Geographic. Also: “Taking a closer look at dry lakes and their impact,” Air Sciences Inc.

³ Steven N. Bacon, Nicholas Lancaster, Scott Stine, Edward J. Rhodes, Grace A. McCarley Holder, “A continuous 4000-year lake-level record of Owens Lake, south-central Sierra Nevada, California, USA,” Quaternary Research (2018), 90, 278.

⁴ National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Effectiveness and Impacts of Dust Control Measures for Owens Lake (2020), page 13.

⁵ Sarah Kittle, “Survey of Reported Health Effects of Owens Lake Particulate Matter,” Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District, January 14, 2000.

⁶ “Important Bird Areas: New opportunities for birds at Owens Lake,” California Audubon.

⁷ “Los Angeles Aqueduct: Owens Lake,” Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

⁸ Public comments given at the Technical Group meetings and Standing Committee meetings of April and May, 2024.