2008-2009 Annual Report

The Owens Valley Monitor is the Inyo County Water Department’s (ICWD) annual report on monitoring and other work performed by ICWD and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). The 2008-2009 Owens Valley Monitor reports runoff year 2008: April 2008-March 2009.  In accordance with the Inyo/Los Angeles water agreement, ICWD and LADWP monitor water activities in the valley and their effects on groundwater levels and vegetation. The two agencies also conduct scientific research on methods of improving water management.

This annual report was produced by the Inyo County Water Department in Independence, California, August 2009.

Table of Contents

  • Cover Page
  • Director’s Report
  • Staff
  • Budget
  • Saltcedar Report
  • Precipitation
  • Mitigation
  • Vegetation
  • Soil Water Conditions
  • Groundwater Conditions
  • LORP Hydrology
  • Pumping History
  • Pumping 2008-2009
  • Bishop Cone Audit

Director’s Report

2008-2009 was a challenging and transitional year for the Water Department.  Long-time Department employees Irene Rae, Irene Yamashita, Derik Olson, and Sally Manning retired after long service to the Department and Inyo County.  Their knowledge, expertise, dedication, and humor is missed at the Department.  We wish them all well in their future endeavors.  The Department is currently seeking to fill three positions: an Administrative Secretary, a Mitigation Projects Manager and a Scientist-Vegetation.  These positions will fill the Department’s need for a smoothly functioning front office, oversight of mitigation projects, and monitoring and analyzing Owens Valley vegetation.

As the Department moves forward, our overall mission is unchanged: to assist in the implementation of the County’s water resources policies through the Inyo/Los Angeles Long-Term Water Agreement (see Water Agreement), which provides for County involvement in LADWP water-related activities, and the County Ordinance 1004 (see Groundwater Ordinance), which regulates inter-basin groundwater transfers proposed by non-LADWP entities.  This mission is accomplished through four general Department activities: oversight of LADWP water management; environmental monitoring to assess impacts of LADWP activities and compliance with Water Agreement goals; planning, monitoring, and implementation of mitigation measures associated with the Water Agreement; and assessment of impacts and development of monitoring and mitigation measures related to conditional use permits applied for under the Groundwater Ordinance.

Oversight of LADWP’s Annual Operations Plan is a critical task for the Water Department.  The Water Agreement provides for the Water Department and LADWP to jointly manage groundwater pumping through the Annual Operations Plan, monitoring of plant water requirements and soil moisture (see soil moisture conditions) at key monitoring sites, and turning wells on or off according to whether monitoring results show that adequate soil moisture is present.  The technical appendix to the Water Agreement, the “Green Book,” describes the methods and protocols for conducting the measurements and analysis to manage pumping.  The Green Book was developed and adopted nearly twenty years ago, and since then, it has been recognized that managing pumping based on water table conditions would be more effective than the present method based on soil moisture and vegetation abundance.  In 2006, the Standing Committee adopted a three-year Interim Management Plan to streamline the annual planning process and cap pumping to allow staff to focus on developing alternative pumping management strategies.  The Interim Management Plan caps wellfield pumping based on water levels in monitoring wells and allows pumping for certain sole-source uses of pumped water within the County, such as town supply and supplies to fish hatcheries (see Groundwater Conditions).  Runoff year 2009-2010 is the third and final year managed under the Interim Management Plan, unless the Standing Committee decides to extend the Plan.

The Department has continued its annual program of monitoring vegetation conditions for the purpose of assessing vegetation conditions relative to the mid-1980s baseline conditions established by the Water Agreement (see Vegetation Conditions).  Among the Water Agreement’s primary goals are commitments to avoid adverse impacts to groundwater dependent vegetation, and collecting vegetation data to assess those goals is a central activity at the Department (see Vegetation Conditions).

The Water Agreement and 1991 Final Environmental Impact Report specify over fifty mitigation projects associated with the Water Agreement.  The Department’s role in these projects includes implementation of the Saltcedar control program (see Saltcedar Update), joint implementation with LADWP of the Lower Owens River Project, development of plans for as-yet unimplemented projects, and monitoring progress of projects that have been implemented.  Important progress in the last year was made on the Hines Spring/1,600 acre-feet project, yellow-billed cuckoo habitat enhancement, the Independence Eastside Regreening Project, and the Lower Owens River Project (see Mitigation Project Status).

Under the County Groundwater Ordinance, the Water Department and Water Commission provide input to the Planning Department and Planning Commission regarding conditional use permit applicants that propose to transfer groundwater out of groundwater basins within Inyo County.  Coso Operating Company, a geothermal power producer, applied for a permit to transfer groundwater from Rose Valley to their geothermal power project in the Coso Range.  This water transfer requires a conditional use permit, and during the past year, the Department worked with other County departments to develop an Environmental Impact Report and monitoring and mitigation plan for the project (see Coso Operating Company Conditional Use Permit).  This application was considered by the Water Commission, Planning Commission, and the Board of Supervisors, and was granted by the Board on May 6, 2009.  The Environmental Impact Report has been challenged in court by the owners of Little Lake Ranch, and is currently in litigation.

Water Department Staff

  • Bob Harrington Director – bharrington@inyocounty.us
  • Doug Daniels Fiscal – Analyst ddaniels@inyocounty.us
  • Chris Howard GIS / LAN Coordinator – choward@inyocounty.us
  • Randy Jackson Senior Hydrologist – rjackson@inyocounty.us
  • Rick Puskar Saltcedar Project Manager – rpuskar@inyocounty.us
  • Aaron Steinwand Soil Scientist / Science Coordinator – asteinwand@inyocounty.us
  • Jerry Zatorski Field Program Coordinator – jzatorski@inyocounty.us

Board of Supervisors Members

  • Linda Arcularius
  • Beverly Brown
  • Susan Cash
  • Richard Cervantes
  • Marty Fortney

Inyo County Administrator

  • Kevin Carunchio

Water Commission Members

  • Rex Allen – term expires 12/31/2011
  • Teri Cawelti – term expires 12/31/2011
  • Matt Kemp – term expires 12/31/2010
  • Paul Lamos – term expires 12/31/2009
  • Jennifer Roeser – term expires 12/31/2009

2008-2009 Water Department Budgets

Inyo County Water Department’s total expenses for fiscal year 2008-2009 was $1,062,372. General operations included ongoing monitoring and management in the Owens Valley, the Lower Owens River Project and administration. The total revenues were $1,417,687.

  • Total Revenue: $1,417,687
  • Annual Payment from LADWP $1,311,075
  • Accrued Interest $22,288
  • Payment from Planning Department for effort provided $17,730
  • Payment from Yucca Mountain Office for effort provided $63,520
  • Other Revenue $3,073

Total Expenses $1,062,372 / Fund Balance $355,315

Saltcedar Budget

  • Total Revenue $63,211
  • Expenses $67,226

Wildlife Conservation Board Grant Budget

  • Total Revenues (reimburse less 10%) $170,798
  • Total Expenses $253,428
  • Total LADWP Matching $170,798

Saltcedar Annual Report

During the 2008-2009 field season, the Inyo County Saltcedar field crew which consisted of seven (7) seasonals, one shared, and one permanent employee cut and treated approximately 180 acres of saltcedar in the Lower Owens River Project. Most of our time this past season was focused north of Billy Lake in water spreading basins created in 1969 to capture an abundant snowpack during an El Nino year.

These spreading basins are located near the Owens River and have become a reservoir of mature saltcedar plants. By cutting and treating these basins adjacent to the river, our goal is to reduce the chances of reinfestation along the river.

Our current program is funded by annual payments from Los Angeles Department of Water and Power specified under the Long Term Water Agreement, grant funding from the California Wildlife Conservation Board, and funds from LADWP that match grant revenues up to $1,500,000. To date, LADWP has paid $617,750 in matching funds to treat saltcedar in the Lower Owens River Project.

 

Precipitation

Inyo County Water Department (ICWD) has collected precipitation data at seven rain gauges in Owens Valley since 1993. Precipitation totals for ICWD rain gauges appear in Table 1. For the 2008 water year (beginning October 1, 2007, and ending September 30, 2008), precipitation measured at the gauges averaged 5.96 inches.

Table 1. Precipitation (in inches) measured in ICWD rain gauges by water year (October 1 of the previous year through September 30 of the year noted).

Rain Gage 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08
RG-1, east of Fish Slough 5.94 3.40 7.60 4.51 4.66 6.09 1.82 1.32 2.26 0.86 5.41 2.75 8.65 5.94 1.19 5.63
RG-2, near Laws 6.29 3.62 7.80 4.55 4.91 7.34 2.50 1.73 3.27 1.28 5.49 2.96 11.13 6.47 1.23 6.40
RG-3, southeast of Bishop 7.21 4.34 8.87 4.29 6.85 9.98 2.39 2.93 4.63 1.24 6.57 3.59 9.96 7.04 1.63 7.26
RG-4, south of Big Pine 8.29 4.24 9.76 6.85 8.33 8.99 1.83 2.56 3.34 1.59 7.23 4.09 9.35 7.8 2.25 5.89
RG-5, near Goose Lake 6.83 2.15 7.07 5.64 7.02 7.47 1.98 0.80 2.46 0.75 7.47 2.58 7.94 5.44 0.93 6.18
RG-6, near Blackrock 9.00 2.95 8.67 7.07 8.68 10.01 1.88 1.59 2.91 1.28 10.38 4.01 11.38 8.13 1.66 6.85
RG-7, west of Union Wash 5.00 1.61 4.88 2.14 4.35 5.06 1.61 1.54 3.91 0.51 5.62 1.77 5.88 1.99 0.76 3.48
Rain Gage Average  6.94 3.19 7.81 5.01 6.40 7.85 2.00 1.78 3.25 1.07 6.88 3.11 9.18 6.12 1.38 5.96
Avg. Precipitation Occurring
Oct 1 – Apr 15 (“Winter”)
6.84 1.86 6.75 4.39 4.79 5.24 1.21 1.17 2.45 0.97 6.07 2.87 7.74 5.50 0.92 5.49
percent in winter 98 58 86 88 75 67 60 66 75 90 88 92 84 90 67 92

Progress on Mitigation Projects

Over the past year, there has been progress on several Water Agreement mitigation projects.  The Lower Owens River Project (LORP) continues to evolve into a healthy functioning riverine-riparian ecosystem jointly implemented by LADWP and Inyo County.  Plans for the Hines Spring and additional mitigation sites and Yellow-billed Cuckoo habitat enhancement projects were finalized by representatives of the MOU parties and lessees affected by the projects.  Also, the Standing Committee adopted modifications to the Independence Eastside Regreening Project that will allow that project to proceed.

LORP. As the LORP transitions from pre-project planning and construction to implementation, annual planning, and monitoring, Water Department tasks and responsibilities change from development of project planning documents to joint implementation of the project.  Water has been in the LORP since December 2006, and seasonal habitat flows have been conducted in February 2008 and May 2009.  The LORP Annual Report (Large (22MB) pdf: LORP 2008 Annual Report) describes activities undertaken on the LORP in 2008, including water quality monitoring results from the establishment of baseflow in the river, the first seasonal habitat flow, initial observations of gains and losses along the river, the 2008 Rapid Assessment Survey, hydrologic monitoring and reporting, land use, weed control, saltcedar control, and adaptive management recommendations from the MOU consultant.  Department staff worked with LADWP to conduct and report on the Rapid Assessment Survey, in which observations of LORP conditions are made to help guide subsequent management of the project.  The Water Department has been involved in discussions between County Staff and LADWP regarding the development of an agreement for jointly funding the LORP.  While these discussions are not yet concluded, much progress has been made in hammering out an agreement that is compliant with the Water Agreement, MOU, and LORP FEIR, and that both sides can live with.  These discussions were aided by the development of the work plan and budget for joint Inyo/LADWP activities for fiscal year 2009-2010 (see 2009-10 Work Plan and Budget).

Hines Spring/Yellow-billed Cuckoo.  MOU section III identifies several commitments to mitigation projects in addition to the LORP.  Among these commitments are projects using 1,600 acre-feet of water each year to mitigate for impacts to springs, and evaluation of Yellow-billed Cuckoo habitat at Baker and Hogback Creeks.  A portion of the 1,600 acre-feet per year will go to on-site mitigation at Hines Spring, with the remaining water going to other projects.

As described in the MOU, the MOU consultants, Ecosystem Sciences, Incorporated (ESI), under the direction of LADWP and Inyo County, were to determine the water requirements of the mitigation measure at Hines Springs and to evaluate opportunities to use any remaining water in the implementation of mitigation measures at other sites. Based on the evaluation, ESI was to recommend reasonable and feasible on-site and/or off-site mitigation measures, including the implementation of the 1991 EIR mitigation measures at Hines Springs. Projects recommended by these studies and evaluations were to be presented to the Board of Water and Power Commissioners for approval and implementation as soon as possible after their completion. These mitigation measures are to be implemented by LADWP and maintained by LADWP and/or Inyo County.

A number of representatives from the MOU parties were dissatisfied with ESI’s draft plans.  In February 2006, an Ad Hoc Group consisting of representatives from the Parties and ranching interests met to discuss alternatives to the draft plans. The Ad Hoc Group operated with a consensus-based approach as a means of recognizing all parties’ interests. The Ad Hoc Group met on a regular basis, and developed and, in November 2008, agreed on a set of projects that they believe would fulfill the commitment in the MOU that LADWP provide 1,600 acre-feet of water per year for the Hines Spring mitigation measure and additional mitigation.  The MOU parties are currently in the process of moving the recommendation forward with respect to MOU compliance and CEQA.

The MOU also requires that the MOU consultants develop plans to maintain and/or improve Yellow-Billed Cuckoo habitat in the Baker and Hogback Creek areas of the Owens Valley.  The MOU consultants developed plans for these two areas that included provisions for fencing, grazing management, irrigation, recreation management, and planting of willows and cottonwoods to improve the suitability of these areas for Cuckoos.  LADWP completed a CEQA analysis of the consultant’s plans.  This analysis determined that significant impacts from the project would occur to downstream water users and grazing at Baker Creek if the project was implemented.  As a consequence, a project alternative was developed by LADWP to reduce the significant impacts associated with the consultant’s plan.  This alternative was included in the Draft EIR prepared for the project.  The Draft EIR was completed and circulated for public comment.

The MOU parties were dissatisfied with the Draft EIR, and a process was initiated to jointly work on an alternative that would satisfy the MOU parties, the lessees, and maintain downstream water uses.  Meetings were held on a regular basis with MOU party representatives and lessees, and, with the help of a different consultant, Earthworks Inc., plans for habitat enhancement at Baker and Hogback Creeks were finalized in May 2009.  LADWP is currently working on CEQA analysis of the project, with CEQA completion anticipated for late 2009.

Independence Eastside Regreening. The Independence East Side Regreening Project consists of constructing a new water supply well in the town of Independence and irrigating an approximately 30 acre parcel immediately north of Market St. and east of Clay St.  The final scoping document for this enhancement mitigation project that was approved by the Standing Committee in 1988 describes that:

  • Water will be supplied from a new well, to be drilled and equipped on the parcel northerly of the old Robinson House parcel.  Output from the well will be supplied through buried pipelines and riser valves to allow flood irrigation of the parcel.  By connecting these pipelines into other existing pipelines, water supply to the woodlot, pastureland, and spring field will be augmented.  Connection may also be made from the well discharge into the Independence town distribution system to allow supplemental emergency fire flow capability.  The Department would select a lessee to flood irrigate the 30-acre area, establishing irrigated pasture.

From 2002 to 2008, the project underwent several rounds of review and reconsideration by the public, the Board of Supervisors, the Water Commission, the Technical Group, and the Standing Committee.  In April 2009, the Standing Committee revised the scope of the project to allow for sprinkler irrigation, to relocate the well to reduce noise at neighboring residences, and to allow for a stable and corral being included in the project.  The next steps toward implementing the project are for the Technical Group to evaluate the proposed new well at the site, and for LADWP to develop a request for proposals to identify a lessee for the acreage.

Vegetation Monitoring

The Water Department conducted its ongoing program of vegetation monitoring during 2008. This program includes the line-point reinventory of vegetation conditions throughout Owens Valley, point-frame measurements at permanent monitoring sites, and recruitment at the permanent monitoring sites. With the retirement of our long-time vegetation scientist, Dr. Sally Manning, we have not yet distilled 2008’s measurements into report form, however, here are links to the line-point reinventory data up to 2007: (csv / pdf). We are currently in the process of hiring additional personnel to fill the void left by Sally’s retirement, and hope to get our vegetation monitoring data up to date soon.

Soil Water Conditions

The Water Agreement established procedures to determine which LADWP pumping wells can be operated based on soil water and vegetation measurements. Staff from ICWD regularly monitors depth to groundwater and soil water content at 25 sites in wellfields and eight sites in control areas.  Data from 22 wellfield sites visited each month are used to determine the operational status (On or Off) of nearby pumping wells.  Seven sites were in On-status through the 2008-09 runoff year.  One site in Laws went into Off-status in October 2008.

The purpose for the On/Off procedures is to manage pumping to protect plant communities that require periodic connection to the water table for long-term survival. Generally the sites with On-status have wet soil and shallow water tables, and the Off-status sites have dry soil and deep water tables. The On/Off determination is based on an incomplete accounting of the components of the soil water balance, however.  Sometimes On-status sites are those with a deep water table and low plant cover. Conversely, a site with adequate water table depth may be in Off-status if the water table occurs just below the root zone and plant cover is high.

We identify the monitoring sites where the root zone is connected with the water table to give a better picture of the conditions underground that are affected by pumping. Several wellfield sites have an intermediate zone where soil water contents change little that separates lower depths affected by water table fluctuations from upper depths affected by precipitation.  We rely on both soil water and groundwater data because the water table depth necessary to provide water to the plant roots depends on the soil characteristics as well as water table depth.  For example, the capillary rise above the water table in a silty soil is much greater than in a sandy soil.  For the same water table depth, the plants may have access to groundwater if the soil is silty, but not if it is sandy.  How well plant roots can take up groundwater also depends on the type of vegetation.  In similar soils, a shallower water table is necessary to supply groundwater to grasses than shrubs because of the shallower roots of the grasses. For management purposes, grass-dominated monitoring sites are assigned a root zone of 6.6 feet (2 m); shrub sites are assigned a root zone of 13.1 feet (4 m).

The wellfield monitoring sites (including three that are monitored but not used for pumping management) were grouped into simple categories to summarize the connection between the root zone and the water table.  Brief descriptions of the three categories are given below:

  1. Connected:  Water table fluctuations caused soil water changes in the top half of the root zone.  Eight sites were placed in this category.
  2. Weakly connected:  Water table fluctuations caused soil water changes in the bottom half of the root zone.  Six sites occur in this category.  Sites BP3, TA1, TS6, SS1, and BG2 have ample soil water stored in the soil profile.
  3. Disconnected:  No recharge from lower depths is occurring in the root zone.  Ten sites occur in this category compared with nine last year.  Sites L2 and TA5 have retained soil water available to plants but the water table at the beginning of the 2009 growing season is probably too deep to recharge the root zone.  Soil at the other sites is dry.

At the beginning of the 2009 growing season, the water table was capable of supplying water to the root zone at 15 monitoring sites located in wellfields (see map).  This compares to about 16 sites last year.  Most sites in the coupled and weakly connected categories had relatively moist soil in much of the soil profile.  Two sites are probably not receiving groundwater in the root zone but have moist soil.  The remaining eight sites have dry soil throughout the root zone.

Pumping Management and Groundwater Conditions

Inyo County and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) entered into an Interim Management Plan (IMP) for groundwater management within the framework of the Water Agreement during the three runoff-years beginning in Runoff-year 2007-08. The IMP was implemented to provide an environment conducive to progress on the Green Book Revision Cooperative Study. Documents concerning the IMP can be found here.

The IMP will terminate on March 31, 2010. Groundwater pumping in the Owens Valley under the IMP is managed with the goal of having average forecasted wellfield groundwater levels on April 1, 2010 (wellfield target levels) at or greater than the average measured wellfield groundwater levels on April 1, 2007, subject to criteria described in the IMP. The Lone Pine and Bishop Wellfields are exempted from this groundwater level provision. The Bishop Wellfield will be managed in accordance will the Hillside Decree, the Water Agreement and applicable court rulings. Lone Pine pumping will be limited to supplying the town water system and Enhancement/Mitigation project irrigation and possibly an operational test of a new well, W416. April groundwater levels are forecasted using the IMP monitoring wells (see map at right) shown in Table 1 and their associated regression models contained in the documentation in the link provided above. A list of exempt pump-equipped wells is also provided in the IMP documentation. These wells are exempt from the water level provisions of the IMP. The list has been amended several times to allow for all known and necessary sole-source pumping needs. In summary, the IMP provides for specific sole-source uses in Owens Valley and curtails export pumping if it causes groundwater levels to decline below April 2007 levels.

Runoff during the 2008-2009 runoff-year (April through March) was below normal. This was the second consecutive year with below normal runoff predicted for the Owens Valley. Runoff during the 2008-2009 runoff-year was forecasted at 86% of normal. In the runoff-year 2008-2009, 68,149 acre-feet of groundwater was pumped from LADWP wells in the Owens Valley. Table 2 shows pumping for the runoff-year 2008-2009 by wellfield within the Owens Valley. This was above the 66,800 planned under the IMP for the 2008-2009 runoff-year by 1,349 acre-feet. Modest pumping under the IMP and below normal runoff combined to produce a relatively stable shallow water table with small increases and decreases in the water table in the 20 IMP indicator test holes and other indicator test holes (See Table 1). The Laws Wellfield was the one wellfield exception. In 2005 and 2006, court mandated water spreading developed relatively high water tables (mounding) in Laws and in subsequent years water tables have declined due to natural mound decay, evapotranspiration and pumping for irrigation and stockwater uses in the Laws Wellfield (See Table 1).

Water levels generally remain below the levels of the mid-1980’s baseline vegetation mapping period (See Table 1, last column). Of the 36 test holes in Table 1, three were above the baseline in April 2009.

The groundwater recharge estimation methods used for the groundwater mining calculations mandated by the Green Book show approximately 129,000 acre-feet of recharge for the 2008 water-year (October through September) for the Owens Valley. In contrast, pumping for the 2008 water-year was 65,232 acre-feet (LADWP’s Table 4, 2009-10 operations plan).

Table 1. Depth to water (DTW) from Shallow Test Hole Reference Point (R.P.) at Indicator Wells, April 1, 2009. All Data are in Feet. Baseline is the Average of 1985, 1986, and 1987 April DTW (given available data). Negative change from April 2007 indicates a declining water table; negative deviation from baseline Indicates the Water Table is below baseline. (IMP Test Hole Numbers in Bold).

Shallow Groundwater Adjacent to the Lower Owens River

Base flows of 40 cubic feet per second were established in the Lower Owens River in the 2007-2008 runoff-year. As of this date two habitat flows have also been released down the Owens River channel.

Shallow test holes adjacent to the Lower Owens River have been monitored by LADWP while base flows were established. A selected number of these test holes are listed in Table 4 along with the distance the test hole is located from the Lower Owens River channel. The test holes are identified as being in a wet reach or dry reach before the rewatering of the Lower Owens River Project took place. A map showing the locations of these test holes is provided below.

Table 4. Selected Shallow Test Holes Adjacent to the Lower Owens River Project.
Test Hole Number Distance from the River Channel
T467 (Dry Reach) 700 feet
T463 (Dry Reach) 1070 feet
T448 (Wet Reach) 457 feet
T446 (Wet Reach) 142 feet

A composite hydrograph of these test holes for the period of record is shown in this composite hydrograph. Shallow groundwater levels increased in response to the increase in stage associated with the establishment of base flows in the Lower Owens River where the channel was previously dry and wet. The magnitude of the increase can be read from the composite hydrograph.

Pumping History

The chart below shows cumulative annual pumping by wellfield, runoff years 1962-2008.  Download the data used to create this chart here.

Groundwater Pumping 2008-2009

In runoff year 2008-2009, Owens Valley groundwater pumping was governed by the Interim Management Policy (IMP), an agreement reached by Inyo County and LADWP.

Table 1. LADWP Owens Valley planned and actual groundwater pumping in acre-feet for runoff year 2008-2009. (Source: Planned Pumping values are derived from Section 2, Table 3 of the LADWP 2008-2009 Annual Operations Plan. Actual Pumping is from DWP.)

Wellfield Planned Pumping Actual Pumping
Lone Pine 1,200 676
Bairs-Georges 500 150
Symmes-Sheperd 1,200 1,230
Independence-Oak 7,400 7,003
Thibaut-Sawmill 12,800 12,126
Taboose-Aberdeen 6,800 7,108
Big Pine 20,400 21,073
Bishop 10,200 10,900
Laws 6,300 7,883
Total (Owens Valley-wide) 66,800 68,149