Water Flowing, Lower Owens Coming Back to Life: Judge Declares Restoration Complete
By Tom Chandler on Jul 12, 2007 in Environment, News
Via Aquafornia (who posted a nice summary of the project), we discover that the Judge overseeing the Lower Owens River restoration says it’s finished, and lifts the $5K/day fine imposed on LADWP (Los Angeles water folks).
This projects has it roots in the water diversions of nearly a century ago, and in the lawsuits brought after LADWP over-pumped groundwater in the Owens Valley in the 1970-1990 era.
What’s heartening is that the concerned parties managed to sit down and figure out some solutions (though lawsuits were required to jump start and complete the process). We hope to see a similar resolution to the Klamath’s problems as irrigators, fishermen, the tribes and environmental groups are trying to hammer out an agreement (without much help from PacifiCorp, btw).
The LA Times posted a short video about floating the river, and damn — it looks great.
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