The California State Water Resources Control Board is rightfully turning attention back to how much water the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power should take from the Mono Lake Basin. As climate change puts more pressure on water resources, it’s high time to reconsider that question. Los Angeles’ appropriation of water from remote places like Mono Lake is the desert metropolis’ original sin, with existential consequences for rural parts of the state. But in recent commitments to double down on municipal water reclamation, the city has made brave decisions to shift toward greater water security and stewardship.
–Written by Erin Ryan, the Charles and Ramona Hilliard Professor of Law at the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law and the author of “Law for the Land: The Public Trust Doctrine, Mono Lake, and a Quiet Revolution in Environmental Rights.”