L.A. says groundwater pumping is sustainable

The valley spreads out at the base of the Sierra Nevada more than 200 miles north of Los Angeles.

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EMPTY GRAIN silos stand as relics of Owens Valley's farming past, before its water supply was diverted.

(Photographs by CARLIN STIEHL Los Angeles Times)

Once it had so many springs, streams and wetlands that the Paiute and Shoshone people called their homeland Payahuunadii, “the land of flowing water.” Today, tribal members say L.A.’s extensive use of water has transformed the landscape, desiccating many springs and meadows, killing native grasses and altering the ecosystem.

Red Owl, a member of the Bishop Paiute Tribe, is executive director of the Owens Valley Indian Water Commission, which focuses on helping tribes regain some of the lands and water they lost more than a century ago, first to white farmers and ranchers, then to Los Angeles.

“We're just a water colony,” Red Owl said as she drove from one well to another, passing dry, brown expanses with signs marking the land as L.A. city property.

The L.A. Department of Water and Power owns much of the land in the Owens Valley, where the city gets about one-third of its water from mountain streams and the Owens River.

Red Owl said L.A.’s pumping has taken a vital “life force” from the tribes’ homeland, and she wants to see the city extract less. She and other tribal members, who call themselves Niiiimii, are part of a movement focused on making that happen.

The issue dates to 1936, when the federal government, in an exchange of land with Los Angeles, obtained lands to establish three small reservations.

The tribes got no water rights as part of the deal, but they did get L.A.’s commitment to provide them a certain amount of water through canals.

In a letter this summer, a group of 30 professors and researchers urged L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and other city leaders to reopen negotiations with the three tribes.