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CITY OF LOS ANGELES CONSERVATION ELEMENT
Adopted September 2001
II-39
Passage of the federal Clean Air Act (1963), and its subsequent
amendments, and formation (1979) of the Great Basin Unified Air
Pollution Control District (APCD) lead to efforts to implement federal
clean air standards. In 1983, legislation (California Health and Safety
Code Section 42316) was enacted which allowed Los Angeles to continue
exercising its water rights in the Owens Valley, providing it complied
with state and federal air quality standards by mitigating documented
air quality impacts resulting from the city's water withdrawals from
the valley.
In 1990 an amendment to the federal Clean Air Act identified the area
as a "non-attainment" area in meeting clean air standards for
particulate matter. It required attainment by 2001, with a five-year
extension option. The 1997 State Implementation Plan (SIP) for
achieving attainment required Los Angeles to use specified measures to
mitigate the dust relative to Owens Lake. Because the measures had not
been fully tested in the Owens Lake environment and conditions of the
lake crust varied from site to site and with changes in the climate,
Los Angeles challenged the plan. It was concerned about being required
to expend money and effort implementing measures that might not work.
To assess the situation, Mayor Richard Riordan and other Los Angeles
officials toured the valley and met with APCD officials in August 1997.
Riordan was the first Los Angeles mayor to officially visit Owens
Valley since the first aqueduct was completed.
In response to the city's challenge, the California Air Resources Board
directed it and the APCD to work out a compromise. The negotiations
resulted (1998) in a memorandum of agreement (MOA). Provisions of the
MOA were incorporated into the revised SIP (1998) and approved by the
federal Environmental Protection Agency (1999) for attainment of air
quality standards by a new date, 2006.
The MOA addresses dust abatement and allows phased and flexible
implementation. It requires that ten square miles of the 110-square
mile lake bed be treated by the end of 2001, an additional 3.5 square
miles in the year 2002 and three more in 2003. At least two square
miles per year are to be treated each year, or until the APCD deems
that the federal standards have been met. The plan will be reviewed in
2003 to determine if the pace should be quickened to achieve the air
quality standards by 2006. The DWP may use a variety of strategies,
including shallow flooding, planting of vegetation, covering areas with
gravel.
The lake will not be refilled. Instead, sections will be treated with
water or vegetation, or covered with gravel to control dust. Initially,
ten square miles will be flooded with a few inches of water,
permanently covering or saturating sections of the lake bed crust, a
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CITY OF LOS ANGELES CONSERVATION ELEMENT
Adopted September 2001
II-40
measure that, as a side benefit to air quality improvement, will
contribute to habitat restoration and enhancement. In June and July of
each year, additional water will be provided to specified locations for
maintenance of food and water sources suitable for sustaining nesting
and fledgling shorebirds. Native and other designated plant species
will be encouraged in designated areas. Incompatible species, e.g.,
salt cedar, will be removed. Berm and access roads will be provided
with snowy plover crossings to allow free movement of adult and chick
plovers. To protect human health, a mosquito abatement program will be
implemented.
The DWP estimates that the initial shallow flooding phase will cost
$100 million to implement. The total project will result in an
estimated loss of 40,000 acre feet of aqueduct water per year (equal to
service to 80,000 households), which will be replaced through water
purchases and other means.
Owens Valley. Vegetation protection evolved out of the Owens Valley
groundwater pumping issue. The protections relate to those sections of
the valley that are owned by the City of Los Angeles, roughly between
Lone Pine and Bishop, not including Owens Lake.
The city's plan for a second aqueduct and enactment of the California
Environmental Quality Act of 1970 (CEQA) prompted a suit (1972) by Inyo
County to restrict the city's groundwater pumping in Owens Valley. Inyo
alleged that the city's plan to increase flows for the second aqueduct
by pumping additional ground water violated CEQA. After a decade of
suits, counter suits and negotiations, the city and Inyo agreed to
jointly prepare an environmental impact report (EIR) that would address
existing and potential impacts associated with the pumping. Completed
in 1991, the EIR identified two separate time periods (1970-90 and 1990
onward) of mitigation measures for implementation by the DWP. The
measures related to impacts associated with prior pumping (1970-90) and
to potential impacts associated with planned future pumping.
Challenges to the EIR, its process and authority resulted in the court
inviting testimony from interested parties. Subsequently, Los Angeles
and Inyo entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which
affirmed the EIR and included additional mitigation measures. Based on
the MOU, the court ruled (1997) that the EIR met legal requirements.
The EIR contains mitigation measures, goals for vegetation protection
and procedures for preparation of annual plans to address future
potential vegetation impacts. Mitigation measures include transfer of
town water systems to local control and annual payment by the city to
Inyo County of funds for local programs and services, including park