By Deb Murphy Tuesday’s meeting of the Inyo County/Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Technical Group started with grim news on the snow pack—34-percent of normal—and ended with a continued stand-off on the Well 385 pump test. Here are the highlights: Aqueduct Manager Jim Yannotta introduced the concept of identifying water available for use […]
By Deb Murphy Thursday’s Standing Committee meeting was a riveting tennis match of semantics and legalese. In the end the committee couldn’t agree on a framework for or anything related to reasonable reductions to agriculture which means the status quo is maintained and agricultural leases will get 45,000 acre-feet for irrigation. The only potential ag […]
With positive staff recommendations and no one in opposition, the Great Basin Unified Air Quality Control District hearing board granted the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power a variance to initiate a late ramp-up of shallow flooding on 14.79 square miles of the Owens Lake. The result is a water savings of 7,400 acre-feet […]
Valley agriculture got its second reprieve Thursday. Irrigation water will continue to flow through July when the Los Angeles/Inyo County Standing Committee will reconvene, July 24, to evaluate how much more water can be allocated to farmers and ranchers. The next goal is to extend irrigation through August by achieving significant water savings on the […]
Numbers and locations have been thrown out since Monday’s Tech Group meeting, but the final decision on how to provide adequate irrigation for Owens Valley agriculture was postponed at Thursday’s Standing Committee meeting. Farmers and ranchers will have to wait until June 4 to know how many cuts they’ll get from their alfalfa fields, how […]
– Submitted by Daniel Pritchett The Inyo Supervisors’ “Talking Water” workshop must have been quite an extravaganza to judge by the Inyo Register’s coverage (4/30/15). Unfortunately, portions of the proceedings were all too predictable: misleading statements by DWP and credulousness by county leaders. DWP reportedly asserted that no water is being pumped for export. DWP […]
Op-Ed by Amanda Parsons, LADWP Spokesperson When gazing at the Sierra Nevada Mountains this year there is a harsh reality staring back: California is in the midst of a four-year drought – a drought so dire that it is unparalleled by any in the recorded history of the State. Snow pack in the Eastern Sierra […]
By Deb Murphy Less than 24 hours before the Inyo County Board of Supervisors “Talking Water Workshop” Tuesday, ranchers were sent an e-mail from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power advising them their irrigation water would be curtailed Friday, May 1, just one month into the six-month irrigation season. The workshop was requested […]
By Deb Murphy With the Owens Valley Committee conditions on the table, it’s now up to the other five Memorandum of Understanding partners to pick up the discussion that just may result in in the Lower Owens River Project, Phase II. The OVC Board of Directors issued its press release Tuesday listing nine conditions. If […]
By Deb Murphy A light at the end of the Lower Owens River canal began to shine after 4-1/2 hours of presentations and discussions Wednesday in Independence. As the packed Board of Supervisor chambers began to empty following the Lower Owens River Project Annual Report meeting, Sierra Club representatives and Los Angeles Department of Water […]
By Deb Murphy The Lower Owens River Project, the most ambitious river restoration ever attempted, did not come with an owner’s manual. There is no guide to bringing a high desert river back to life after 100 years of dormancy. The closest thing to an owner’s manual would be the project consultant Ecosystem Sciences’ annual […]
Recent Comments