Lower Owens River Project (LORP) (2003-2004)

CONCUR designed and completed a Stakeholder Assessment for U.S. EPA, examining the potential to use a facilitation/mediation process to resolve a long-running 30 year dispute over water and wildlife resources between the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP), Inyo County, local and national environmental groups, the State of California, and Native American tribes.

The Owens Valley region is home to some of the oldest, classic ‘California Water Wars’, whose history and culture are robustly represented by the Lower Owens River conflict.  In a series of interviews with the affected parties, areas of agreement started to emerge, including a general willingness to enter into a structured mediation process, with a joint fact-finding component.  Providing confidentiality for the interviewees, amidst legal proceedings, and urging them to find common solutions, given the engrained nature of this dispute, was challenging.

Issues addressed included restoring base river flows, providing a seasonal peak ‘flush flow’, management of Threatened and Endangered Species, spring and seep habitat management as well as long-term monitoring and adaptive management.  In the end, key parties in Inyo County felt their best chance to reach an agreement with DWP was to pursue litigation.  In 2005,h the courts required DWP to implement measures to protect and restore the Lower Owens River, or face penalties including cessation of water exports from the region.  As a result, the LORP is now being implemented, one of the most ambitious river restoration projects in the Western United States.