Ryan Garrett, education director for the Mono Lake Committee, tours on the lake in 2025. Litigation to save Mono Lake was pivotal in the development of the public trust doctrine.

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. 

The state water board is also shifting in the right direction, holding new workshops on Mono Lake management. The workshops provide the city and state the opportunity to do right by still-vulnerable Mono Lake and fulfill promises the California Supreme Court and water board made to its preservation over 30 years ago.

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On the eastern watershed of the Yosemite highlands, the Mono Basin is a staggeringly beautiful place — pierced by volcanic islands and geothermal activity, and adorned with limestone towers of tufa. Decades of diversions had drained the lake to the point of near ecological collapse when a group of locals, birders, anglers, students and scientists campaigned to reduce diversions to thirsty, mostly unaware Angelenos 350 miles away. The groundbreaking public trust litigation to save Mono........

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