Mitigation project Independence 131 South  PC: Boulton

LADWP's groundwater pumping that started in 1971 and continues to this day required mitigation of the significant environmental impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act. In 1971. In 1971, LADWP completed the second barrel of the LA Aqueduct. The building of the aqueduct was underway before CEQA became a law in 1970. However, the filling of the aqueduct started after CEQA was passed. LADWP started heavily pumping groundwater in 1971. The negative impacts to springs and vegetation were immediate. The Sierra Club and the Owens Valley Committee sued in 1972. In 1997, 25 years later, the mitigation agreements that came out of that lawsuit were officially discharged by the court. There were adjustments to those mitigation projects for several years that followed which turned into 67 mitigation projects. Two tables (Table 3.1 and Table 3.2) published in the LADWP Owens Valley annual reports, list these projects, their statuses, and other LADWP commitments. Now, 52 years later, where does LADWP stand on those commitments and obligations? 

Tables 3.1 and 3.2 report that all except five of the mitigation projects are marked as "complete" or "complete and on-going". We disagree with that assessment. We have questions or concerns on 43 of the projects. Many are clearly fields of rabbitbrush, Saltbush, and/or Russian thistle. A few are just bare. The worst mitigation project is 300 acres of pepperweed a.k.a. white top, a very difficult invasive weed to get rid of.

In addition to these mitigation projects, the Long Term Water Agreement, which grandfathered in the much lower water table of the late 1980s, protects the vegetation of the Owens Valley from further degradation. The staff of the Inyo County Water Department (ICWD) and LADWP survey 120-140 parcels each summer to determine if the vegetation is changing to a drier vegetation type, e.g., from alkali meadow to shrub or from rabbitbrush to desert scrub. It is a lot of work and a lot of transects. The data shows that vegetation on some of the parcels has been changing. The ICWD reported at the Inyo/LA Standing Committee meeting on November 9 that grass cover in 23 parcels is below baseline. Another data point, the grass to shrub ratio, across the parcels shows a trend of less grass and more shrub since 1986.

The Range of Light Group has been documenting the conditions of these mitigation projects for the past three years and have initiated meetings with LADWP to review them. We are also starting to review the vegetation parcels as well. If you'd like to help, let us know.