City of los angeles general plan

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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

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