California water regulators reexamine why Mono Lake hasn’t rebounded

More than three decades after a landmark decision called for Los Angeles to limit its taking of water to raise the level of Mono Lake, California regulators are reexamining why the lake still hasn’t rebounded and what should be done about it.

At the request of state water officials, UCLA climate scientists developed a new model to analyze why the lake remains far below its state-mandated target level. In a new report, they said that without L.A.’s use of water from creeks that feed the lake, its waters would be about 4 feet higher — closer to that required threshold.

“The way the exports are regulated, meeting lake level objectives is unlikely,” Alex Hall, a UCLA climate scientist, told members of the California State Water Resources Control Board at a meeting Tuesday.

A canoe tour stops near a tufa to learn about Mono Lake’s biodiversity and ecosystem on Aug. 2, 2025.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

While his UCLA team estimated that climate change has also played a role, keeping Mono Lake about 2.6 feet lower than it would otherwise be, the researchers concluded that halting L.A.’s water exports would roughly double the likelihood of the lake reaching its target level within the next 20 years.

In a 1994 decision, state water regulators required the L.A. Department of Water and Power to limit diversions and take steps to raise the lake level 17 feet. Mono Lake is now higher than it was then, but is still about 9 feet below the required level.

DWP managers said they have questions and want to vet the UCLA analysis.

Eric Tillemans, DWP’s interim aqueduct manager, told the state board that the city’s studies have found Mono Lake’s levels are “more dependent on precipitation, evaporation and runoff than any other factors.”

“It’s highly technical and a scientifically novel modeling effort, but it wasn’t developed through a facilitated process or expert peer-reviewed,” Tillemans said, adding that it “requires additional time to complete a thorough review.”

Anselmo Collins, DWP’s chief operating officer and senior assistant general manager, said the analysis by UCLA researchers should be thoroughly vetted before state officials consider whether it should be used to guide policy decisions.

In 1994, the State Water Resources Control Board set a target level of 6,392 feet above sea level for Mono Lake. The level is still about 9 feet below that.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

In recent years, L.A. has gotten about 2% of its water from the Eastern Sierra creeks in the Mono Basin. Environmental advocates have called for the city to take less water to help the lake reach a healthy level and support an ecosystem that is vital for migratory birds.

Richard Katz, former president of the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners, proposed in a letter to the state board that DWP should pause its use of water from the Mono Basin. He wrote that doing this would be the “fastest and most cost-effective way” to raise the lake level.

Katz also said a recent city decision to double the size of a water-recycling project provides a “unique opportunity” to increase local water while also letting Mono Lake recover.

Others who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting in Sacramento called for the state water board to intervene and require L.A. to take less water to enable the lake to rise, or to stop taking water altogether.

“It’s been far too long that this has been allowed to happen,” said Noah Williams, a member of the Bishop Paiute Tribe, adding that the focus should be on “really addressing the issue of raising the lake elevation.”

Former L.A. City Councilmember Ruth Galanter, who helped broker an agreement that laid the groundwork for the 1994 decision, urged the state board to insist that DWP fulfill its commitment.

“This kind of delay is what gives regulation a bad name, and it makes people lose faith in the notion that the government is here to serve you,” Galanter said. “So it’s not just Mono Lake that’s at stake here. It’s the credibility of our legal system and our regulatory system.“

Geoffrey McQuilkin, executive director of the nonprofit Mono Lake Committee, urged the state water board to act, saying in three decades DWP “has shown that it will not restore this national treasure voluntarily.” He agreed with Katz that the city should pause its use of water from the area until Mono Lake can rise.

Geoffrey McQuilkin, executive director of the Mono Lake Committee, peers through binoculars at Mono Lake’s South Tufa on Aug. 1, 2025.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Janisse Quiñones, DWP’s departing top executive, disagreed. She told the state water board in a March 13 letter that Los Angeles has reduced its use of water from the Mono Basin since 1994, but that further reducing the amount is not likely to significantly hasten the lake’s rise.

Quiñones also said the protections the state water board put in place, as well as additional steps by DWP, “have been a success.”

“Mono Lake stands in stark contrast to all other saline lakes in the West — including the Salton Sea and the Great Salt Lake — that are declining in elevation and facing significant environmental issues,” she wrote.

Quiñones told the board that reducing or halting the city’s use of water from the Mono Basin would be “unwarranted, imprudent, and place undue financial burden on LADWP’s ratepayers.”

It’s not clear when the state water board might convene another meeting on the matter.