Jeff Nordin, Lizbeth Calderon, and Keith Leon
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
Owens Valley, CA
October 7th, 2025
We met with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power as we stood in the dried-up basin of Owens Lake, the Eastern Sierras standing watch over our conversation. Jeff Nordin, along with Lizbeth Calderon and Keith Leon, explained the ways in which Owens Lake is an incredibly valuable resource for the city of Los Angeles, and gave us a brief overview of the history of the saline lake and the highly desired waters that feed it.
The Los Angeles Aqueduct, which has been in active use since 1913, provides on average 30% of LA’s water. LADWP in its role to keep the city hydrated, diverts water that would otherwise flow into Owens Lake. These diversions have led to dessication of the lake, resulting in many changes to the environment including windborne dust eroded from the exposed lakebed that poses air quality hazards to locals and dramatic losses of habitat for residing species.
Jeff, Keith, and Lizabeth explained their roles in the projects LADWP has enacted to protect the lakebed, as well as implement restoration adaptive management, prioritizing the necessary ongoing adaptations in the maintenance of environmental restoration. Some of these approaches include planting vegetation, shallow flooding, and gravel cover to protect the dry lake bed from becoming airborne. These dust mitigation and habitat restoration methods were presented to us as highly successful, and as potential models for regions with similar dust hazards.
Walking the line of a difficult issue regarding the necessity of water for millions of people and the concerns of ecological stability in the Owens Valley, the LADWP crew demonstrated their simultaneous interest in both sides of the conversation. They note the importance of aiming for a functioning environment rather than a complete restoration of the lake, emphasizing their belief in the necessity of human management in approaching ecological mitigation.
By Rose Peterson