Projects
Holding LADWP to Account
We advocate for reduced water extraction from Payahuunadü by engaging with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). One facet of this strategy is attending the regular formal meetings between LADWP and Inyo County: Standing Committee meetings and Technical Group meetings. In April and May, we organize for less extraction in the upcoming year’s Annual Operations Plan. Finally, throughout the year, we submit written comments in response to new projects that LADWP envisions. With this multi-pronged strategy, we make sure that both LADWP and Inyo County know that a strong, engaged public supports a clear message of reduced extraction. We encourage interested folks to join us: numbers make us stronger! See our Action Alerts and Updates pages for more information.
LADWP repairing infrastructure on Owens Lake during the 2023-2024 runoff year
LADWP Mitigations Projects
Groundwater pumping by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has devastated many ecosystems in Payahuunadü, also known as the Owens Valley. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires mitigation of these sweeping environmental impacts. ESWA is working to monitor LADWP’s mitigation work throughout Payahuunadü. We advocate for a long-term, ecosystems-centered approach, proper documentation, and transparent public communication on the status of these projects.
Lower Owens River Diversion Structure
Great Basin Water Justice Summit
The Great Basin Water Justice Summit is an annual gathering in Bishop, California of water protectors from across the Great Basin, be they environmental organizations, tribal nations, or activists, to discuss current efforts, build relationships, and imagine new, more just futures for water through collaboration. Featuring speakers, workshops, and field tours, the Summit is hosted in-person by invite with programming streamed live and recorded for the public. Originally hosted by the Owens Valley Indian Water Commission and Great Basin Water Network in partnership with Sophia Borgias and Kate Berry as part of their research Unlikely Alliances in Rural-Urban Water Conflicts, the Summit is now put on every November in collaboration between Friends of the Inyo, the Owens Valley Indian Water Commission, Great Basin Water Network, and Eastern Sierra Land Trust, with attendance and participation from many more colleagues and allies.
Great Basin Watershed Map
Patsiata Forever
For thousands of years, snowmelt from the Eastern Sierra flowed down our valley into Patsiata, also known as Owens Lake. This pattern is typical for many valleys of the Great Basin, where ecosystems depend on similar saline terminal lakes. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has denied Patsiata its 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. ESWA believes that we need to embrace water itself as the way forward for Patsiata. We are looking 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.
Cottonwood Creek flowing into Owens Lake
Keep Long Valley Green
The Keep Long Valley Green Coalition is a diverse collaboration of environmentalists, tribal representatives, ranchers, recreators, business owners and more formalized in 2018 to prevent the removal of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) irrigation from agricultural leases on the lands surrounding Crowley Lake, also known as Long Valley and Little Round Valley. This irrigation, spread by the ranchers managing the land, partially mitigates lost wetland and wet meadow habitat flooded by LADWP in the building of the Long Valley Dam to create the Crowley Lake reservoir. Removal of this irrigation for use in Los Angeles, or “dewatering” of Long Valley, would result in habitat loss, dust and wildfire risk, economic, cultural, and recreational losses of scenic beauty, as well as degradation of rural ways of life. The Keep Long Valley Green Coalition, or KLVG, works to hold LADWP accountable in Long Valley and educate the public on this well-loved but often misunderstood part of southern Mono County.
Long Valley meadows with Mount Morrison