In drought years, LADWP pumps water to offset the decline in surface water. The runoff this year on the Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada is about 55% of normal (normal being the 50 year average runoff from 1966 to 2015). There isn't a reservoir on the east side to visually show it, but is low in the Eastern Sierra too, as it is on the west side that feeds most of these reservoirs. The whole state is impacted.

This year, LADWP plans to pump between 64,600 acre-feet and 78,980 acre-feet of groundwater during the 2021-22 runoff year, which is between 34 percent and 41 percent of the amount allowed under the terms of Water Agreement. Inyo County is recommending it be reduced to 59,377 acre-feet to not worsen the state of surface vegetation.

Only three out of the nine well fields in the Owens Valley have average water tables within the root zone for grasses (from 1991-2020). The depth to water from the surface has a huge impact on the surface vegetation as well as the big swings in the water table from groundwater pumping. An ecosystem needs a stable water table. If it is within the root zone one year and way down the next two, plants die and may not come back on the good runoff years when the water table is recharged and rises. In many areas, the water table was never allowed to rise back to the root zone after the extensive groundwater pumping in the 1970s and 1980s. The meadows in the valley have converted and are still converting to shrubs.

Here is a link to LADWP's pumping plan for this year.

Here is a link to Inyo County's response of their pumping plan.