Storm over Mono
Subtitle: the Mono Lake battle and the California water future
By: John Hart ; cartography by Nancy Fouquet.
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Berkeley
Language: eng
Number of pages: 211
Subjects: Water resources development -- Government policy -- California.; Water rights -- California.; Water withdrawals -- California -- Mono Lake.; Lake conservation -- California -- Mono Lake.; Water-supply -- California -- Los Angeles.
Description: A dramatic environmental saga unfolds in John Hart's compelling story of the fight to save Mono Lake. This ancient inland sea, in the eastern Sierra near Yosemite National Park, is among the oldest in North America. But over the past fifty years, as its feeder streams were steadily drained to supply inexpensive water to Los Angeles, the lake's water volume was reduced by half. Mono Lake's bizarre but productive ecosystem began to unravel: salinity greatly increased, nesting and migrating birds were threatened, fierce alkali dust storms became a feature of local weather.

Then, in the mid-1970s, a handful of people, most of them students with minimal financial resources, began a campaign to save the dying lake. They took on not only Los Angeles but the entire state government and a whole way of thinking about water. Their fight seemed doomed in the beginning, but long years of grassroots education and effort finally paid off. In 1994, the California Water Resources Control Board ruled that Los Angeles's use of Mono Lake's waters be restricted. Over time, the lake will return to a healthy condition.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.