Public trust doctrine produces water for Mono Lake: The State of California's Water Resources Control Board decision #1631

On September 28, 1994, Mono Lake once again made history. On this day, the promise of the 1983 California Supreme Court's precedent-setting decision ( National Audubon Society v. Superior Court of Alpine County ), that harm to public trust resources must be balanced when granting water rights, was realized Formalizing what had been a series of interim decisions and stay orders by various courts, an order reduced the City of Los Angeles' water right from 100,000 acre feet per year to 30,800 acre feet per year, after Mono Lake reaches its new target height of 6,391 feet above sea level. The magnitude of the revision of water right along with the significant increase in instream flow requirements on the four major streams feeding Mono Lake is testament to the power of the public trust doctrine as a tool for providing balanced water use. Even more impressive is that this water reallocation came from what is often regarded as the highest valued beneficial use of water, urban use. Given that much stream dewatering occurs because of lower valued agricultutal uses, this …