California.

Los Angeles has agreed to give up a portion of its long-held water rights to ecologically fragile Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra.

In a landmark agreement reached last week with an environmental group called the Mono Lake Committee. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said it plans to build a $ 50 million wastewater reclamation project in the eastern part of the San Fernando Valley.

The department said it would permanently give up claim to 35,000 acre-feet a year of Mono Lake water after completion of the East Valley Reclamation Project, which will process 35,000 acre-feet of reclaimed water a year, an amount that roughly serves 70,000 households.

The 35,000 acre-feet represents about one-third of the water the department has historically taken from the fragile brine lake, although because of the statewide drought and litigation, the department has not diverted Mono Lake water to Southern California since 1989.

Funding for the reclamation project will come from federal, state, and city sources.

California will pay 50% of the project's cost from a pool of money established under Assembly Bill 444, a 1989 measure sponsored by Assemblyman Phillip Isenberg, D-Sacramento. The federal government will provide 2 5% under authorizing legislation contained in the Central Valley Improvement Act passed by Congress in 1992. Los Angeles will pay 25% from a rate fund established for conservation and reclamation projects.

Martha Lewis, executive director of the Mono Lake Committee, said environmentalists are worried that the ecosystem of the scenic lake, located at nearly 6,400 feet above sea level, suffers when the water level drops too low.

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