每座大城市的水源都来自某处，而这些选择能够重塑遥远的地方。加利福尼亚东部的莫诺湖就是一个典型例子。几十年来，洛杉矶市从注入该湖的溪流中取水。1994年，州政府介入。那一年，根据加利福尼亚州水资源控制委员会的说法，该州通过了第1631号决定，设定了溪流流量要求、水资源出口限制及其他条件，以保护湖泊的公共信托资源。
Every big city gets its water from somewhere, and those choices can reshape distant places. Mono Lake in eastern California is a good example. For decades, the city of Los Angeles took water from the streams that fed it. In 1994, the state stepped in. That year, it adopted Decision 1631, setting streamflow requirements, water export limits, and other conditions to protect the lake’s public trust resources, according to the California State Water Resources Control Board.
湖泊为何失水委员会解释称，它曾向洛杉矶市及其水电局颁发许可，允许从流入莫诺湖的溪流中引水。这些引水导致湖面水位在1941年至1982年间下降了45英尺。这最终对湖泊环境和公共信托资源造成了重大损害。1994年，委员会修改了该局的水权许可证，纳入了溪流流量要求、出口限制以及保护这些资源的条件。现行规则要求1994年决定为湖泊设定了长期目标，即海拔6392英尺。
How the lake lost waterThe board explains that it had granted permits to Los Angeles and its Department of Water and Power to divert water from streams that flow into Mono Lake. The diversions caused the lake level to drop 45 feet between 1941 and 1982. This ended up causing significant harm to the lake’s environment and public trust resources. In 1994, the board amended the department’s water rights licenses to include streamflow requirements, limits on exports, and conditions to protect those resources. What the rules call for nowThe 1994 decision set a long-term goal for the lake of 6,392 feet above sea level.
委员会预测湖泊将在2014年前达到该水位。由于恢复需要时间，该决定制定了两套引水限额。第一套适用于湖泊上升至6391英尺的过程，这些过渡期限额至今仍由该局遵循。当湖面低于6377英尺时，不允许任何引水。在6377至6380英尺之间，上限为每年4500英亩英尺。从6380至6391英尺，上限为每年16000英亩英尺。一英亩英尺是指覆盖一英亩土地深度一英尺所需的水量。
The board predicted the lake would reach that level by 2014. Since recovery takes time, the decision created two sets of diversion limits. The first applies as the lake rises to 6,391 feet, and these transition limits are still followed by the department today. When the lake is below 6,377 feet, no diversions are allowed. The cap is 4,500 acre-feet a year between 6,377 and 6,380 feet. It’s 16,000 acre-feet a year from 6,380 to 6,391 feet. An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover an acre of land one foot deep.
莫诺湖恢复缓慢的原因委员会表示，干旱、气候变化和持续的引水限制了其恢复，湖泊仍低于长期目标水位。发表在《生物科学》期刊上的一篇2025年综述文章，由美国地质调查局的一组科学家撰写，发现自1994年以来，莫诺湖从未达到其管理目标，且仍远低于目标水位。
Why Mono Lake’s recovery has been slowDrought, climate change, and ongoing diversions have limited its recovery, and the lake remains below the long-term level, the board says. A 2025 review in the journal BioScience, written by a team of U.S. Geological Survey scientists, found that Mono Lake has never met its management goal since 1994 and remains well below the target level.
其作者补充道，除少数例外，大盆地终端湖泊的现状是长期政策选择的结果，这些选择未考虑对湖泊本身的影响。为何鸟类和科学家关注莫诺湖是一个终端湖，意味着它没有流向其他水体的出口。综述指出，大盆地的终端湖泊每年支持数百万水鸟。文中补充道，北美洲99%以上的角䴙䴘依赖这些湖泊秋季产出的卤虫和碱蝇。
Its authors add that, with few exceptions, the present condition of the Great Basin’s terminal lakes is the result of a long history of policy choices that did not consider the effects on the lakes themselves. Why birds and scientists careMono Lake is a terminal lake, which means it has no outlet to any other body of water. Terminal lakes in the Great Basin support millions of waterbirds annually, the review notes. More than 99 percent of North America’s eared grebes depend on the brine shrimp and alkali flies those lakes produce in the fall, it adds.
在综述中，莫诺湖是研究第二多的湖泊，占出版物的21%，仅次于大盐湖的39%。作者将这段漫长的研究历史与莫诺湖的法律水资源规则联系起来。接下来会怎样2021年10月，委员会发布了一项命令，提出新要求，旨在恢复流入湖泊的溪流中约20英里的溪流和鱼类栖息地。2026年6月，委员会工作人员举办了公开研讨会，收集湖泊状况信息并讨论管理方案。
Mono Lake was the second most-studied lake in the review, with 21% of the publications, after Great Salt Lake at 39%. The authors link that long history of research to the legal water rules for Mono Lake. What comes nextIn October 2021, the board issued an order with new requirements to restore about 20 miles of creek and fish habitat in streams that flow into the lake. Board staff held public workshops in June 2026 to gather information on the condition of the lake and to discuss management options.
委员会还聘请加州大学洛杉矶分校气候科学中心开发水量平衡模型，研究气候变化和引水如何影响湖泊水位。1994年制定的规则为湖泊指明了清晰的路径，但恢复进程比委员会预期的要长。
The board also hired UCLA’s Center for Climate Science to develop a water budget model to study how climate change and diversions affect lake levels. The rules created a clear path for the lake in 1994, but recovery has taken longer than the board expected.