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Owens Valley

The Owens River is a river in eastern California in the United States, approximately 120 mi (193 km) long. It drains into an arid ranching basin, called the Owens Valley, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The site of a long-running chapter of the bitter California Water Wars, the river drained into Owens Lake until it was entirely diverted for irrigation and drinking water. On December 6, 2006, the City of Los Angeles restored 5% of its post-aqueduct flow, by court order. ^[1]

The river rises in the Sierra Nevada in southwestern Mono County, approximately 20 mi (32 km) south of Mono Lake and 25 mi (40 km) east of Yosemite Village. It flows southeast across the Long Valley Caldera, through Lake Crowley reservoir, then descends through the 10 mi (16 km) Owens River Gorge, emerging at the north end of the Owens Valley north of Bishop. In the area around Bishop, it is diverted through many ditches to irrigate the surrounding farming region. It flows south-southeast through the Owens Valley between the Sierra Nevada on the west and the White and Inyo mountains on the east, past Big Pine. Approximately 10 mi (16 km) south-southeast of Big Pine, most of the remaining river is diverted into the Los Angeles Aqueduct, completed in 1913 to supply drinking water to Los Angeles. The remaining river flows in a trickle through the southern valley, flanked by the Los Angeles Aqueduct, past Lone Pine, entering the lake bed of now-dry Owens Lake at the southern end of the valley.

The acquisition of water rights for the Los Angeles Aqueduct under the direction of William Mulholland was highly controversial and led to violence and sabotage by local residents in the 1920s. The diversion of water and the subsequent desiccation of Owens Lake remains highly controversial. The re-establishment of the lake has been a long-time goal of the California environmentalist community.

See the California Water Wars article for a detailed history of the water wars.

• List of rivers in the Great Basin

• LA Weekly article on desiccation of the valley
• KNX Newsradio coverage of the restoration of water to the Lower Owens River