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LONE PINE, Calif. — Los Angeles and the Owens Valley are atwar over water again, with the city trying to rework a historicagreement aimed at stopping massive dust storms that have besiegedthe eastern Sierra Nevada since L.A. opened an aqueduct 99 yearsago that drained Owens Lake. The L.A. Department of Water and Power has spent $1.2 billion inaccordance with a 1997 agreement to combat the powder-fine dustfrom a 40-square-mile area of the dry Owens Lake bed. Byintroducing vegetation, gravel and flooding, the DWP has reducedparticle air pollution by 90%. The efforts have brought a measure of peace in the rural valleywhere people have long had bitter feelings toward Los Angeles,although a noxious reminder of how much work remains to be donerolled over this tourist town on the afternoon of May 25. Fearsomegusts of desert wind kicked up swirling clouds thousands of feethigh and so thick that drivers switched on their headlights andpedestrians scurried about with squinting eyes. Despite the DWP's efforts, the air quality still doesn't meetfederal pollution standards. So the Great Basin Unified AirPollution Control District has ordered the DWP to expand its reachto an additional 2.9 square miles of lake bed, including areas soremote and geologically challenging that it could cost the utilityas much as $400 million to bring them into compliance with federalhealth standards. The DWP says the demand is unreasonable. "Just as we're nearingcompletion of our settlement agreement goal, Great Basin has pushedthe goal post further away," DWP General Manager Ron Nichols said. Water wars have raged over Owens Valley since the early 1900s, whenthe city had agents pose as farmers and ranchers to buy land andwater rights in the valley, then began building the aqueduct toslake the thirst of the growing metropolis more than 200 miles tothe south. L.A. diverted so much water via the aqueduct system thatit was nearly impossible for local farmers and ranchers to make aliving — a scandal dramatized in the classic 1974 film"Chinatown." The current standoff is "a rekindling of 'Chinatown,'" said S.David Freeman, who was general manager of the DWP when it struckthe agreement in 1997 and believes it should remain intact. "We are seeing a fundamental reversal of a decade of relativeharmony," Freeman said. "If the mayor does not want to leave officelabeled a polluter, he ought to think twice about that." L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa , who six years ago declared a new era of collaboration with theOwens Valley, declined to comment on the dispute. The DWP claims that the 1997 agreement contains flaws that set thestage for unforeseen problems and sent costs soaring. For example,the DWP has had to spread more water than anticipated —yearly costs have grown to about $45 million — over portionsof lake bed where dust pollution exceeds federal health standards. The utility also argues that geological reports and newlydiscovered archaeological sites indicate that the lake was smallerin 1913 — when the aqueduct began taking water south —than outlined in the 1997 agreement. The DWP is responsible fordust arising only from the portions of the lake bed exposed since1913. The utility says the State Lands Commission should beresponsible for rest of the area, which amounts to about 10 squaremiles. In addition, the DWP contends that the agreement unreasonablyrequires it to control all airborne dust over the lake bed, eventhough some particles might be blown in from nearby sand dunes andother sources. "We have no intention of walking away from our responsibility forthe dust at the dry Owens Lake bed," Nichols said. "But the realityis that we don't create all the dust out there, never did." The utility has filed an appeal of the air pollution controldistrict's order with the California Air Resources Board, whichwill hear the case Friday. The DWP says that if it prevails, theamount of water used for dust control could be cut in half, savingthe average ratepayer about $20 a year. Ted Schade, Great Basin air pollution control officer, said heunderstands the desire to save money in a tough economy. But thefederal Clean Air Act does not say that "close to completion" isgood enough, he said. "The DWP is responsible for controlling the lake bed that isexposed today because of their ongoing water diversions," he said.In addition, state-approved procedures require Great Basin toidentify and order treatment of areas that fail to meet federalparticulate standards. Schade conceded that some dust does come from other sources, but hesaid "they are a small fraction of the dust that comes off theOwens Lake bed." Environmentalists have a stake in the outcome. A master plan forthe lake bed calls for environmentally sensitive floodingstrategies, but the plan is on hold until the current dispute isresolved, DWP officials said. Thousands of migrating waterfowl andshorebirds roost on portions of the flooded lake bed. louis.sahagun@latimes.com. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Cutting Vinyl Plotter , China Laser Die Making Machine, and more. For more , please visit Large Format Solvent Printer today!
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