DWP Asks Court to Reconsider Mono Water Curb

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power asked the El Dorado Superior Court on Friday to reconsider a preliminary injunction that bars the utility from diverting water from Mono Lake until next March.

The injunction, issued Aug. 22, was imposed because a three-year drought has left Mono Lake at what environmentalists fear is a dangerously low level.

The injunction is in effect until March 30, preventing the DWP from using the water until the lake level is restored to an elevation of 6,377 feet. The current elevation is 6,375.5 feet.

Rick J. Caruso, president of the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners, said El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Terrence Finney made the decision without accurate information.

“Judge Finney’s decision to grant the injunction was clouded by factual misinterpretation and the unsupported belief that irreparable harm would befall the lake if Los Angeles continued current diversions through the injunction period,” he said.

The preliminary injunction resulted from an 11-year-old lawsuit filed by the Audubon Society, which contends that the utility’s water diversion is causing irreversible damage to wildlife.