When shorelines denote dust bowls

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has taken the Owens Lake Master Plan hostage in a bid to limit LA's future liability for dust control in the Eastern Sierra.

LADWP: cheaper to fight than fix

After a billion dollars and eleven years, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power is suing to stop dust remediation in Owens Valley. It claims that Eastern Sierra monitors are moving goal posts for compliance, but the underlying strategy looks more like a business decision that DWP general manager recently summed up with the remark, "The legal fees pale in comparison to the cost of dust control.”

Solar pilot, without impact report, proposed for Owens Valley

Nearly a century after Los Angeles drained Owens Lake by diverting its water to the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the city now hopes to generate solar energy on the dusty salt flats it left behind, reports Phil Wilson in the Los Angeles Times.

The Department of Water and Power’s board of commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved a renewable energy pilot project that would cover 616 acres of lake bed with solar arrays — a possible precursor to a mammoth solar farm that could cover thousands of acres.

To keep reading, click here.

On the subject of dust, birds and water in Owens Valley

FROM THE Inyo Register via Aquafornia: The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power is working on a “moat and row” plan to control the dust storms caused by its diversion of the snowmelt that once fed Owens Lake (see pre-LA Aqueduct photo, left). Court-ordered air pollution mitigation now forces LADWP to leave vast amounts of water on the dry lake bed instead of pumping it to Los Angeles. Ponds formed by dust control watering have recently become a sanctuary for birds. The new “moat and row” system would mean more water for LA but less water for the birds. To read the Inyo Register story,  click hereFor what we know about the reputedly $100m LADWP case against its dust contractor CH2M Hill, click here. For a 1913 Los Angeles Times story recounting the opening of the aqueduct that drained Owens Lake, click here. Finally,

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