Mono Lake advocates ask L.A. to stop exporting its water
As California enters what is expected to be a fourth year of drought, the State Water Resources Control Board is reviewing a request from environmentalists to suspend Los Angeles Department of Water and Power diversions from Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. In its request, the nonprofit Mono Lake Committee argues that the combination of drought and diversions from streams that feed the lake are exposing the lake bottom near islands that host one of the world’s largest nesting gull populations. Unless this is addressed, they say coyotes will be able to access the islands and feast on the eggs of 50,000 California gulls.