Big Pine Water Resources Plan

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The Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens Valley (Tribe) is a federally recognized Tribe located in Inyo County, CA. The ancestors of the Tribe irrigated the land and cultivated plants for food. Tributaries of the Owens River were dammed and water was diverted to irrigate fields through a series of ditches. When settlers came into the Owens Valley in the 1860’s, they claimed ownership of lands and water that the Tribe used since time immemorial. By the early 1900’s, the City of Los Angeles acquired most of the land and water rights in the Owens Valley in order to transfer water to the Los Angeles basin 240 miles to the south. The creation of the Big Pine Indian Reservation and its water allocation, based on a land exchange between the Department of Interior and the City of Los Angeles, has changed the way water has been utilized by the Tribe. Previous projects with the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) have assisted the Tribe in increasing the availability of non-potable water to Reservation residents and helped the Tribe to reduce potable water demand through the installation of water meters and water use efficiency education. The Tribe desires to continue its partnership with BOR through this proposal to continue in implementing a program for increased water use efficiency on the Big Pine Indian Reservation. The Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens Valley is working to reduce demand on limited potable water supplies and improve efficiency of their irrigation water through a multi-phased plan. The main goals are as follows: 1. Technical assessments of the Tribe’s irrigation systems 2. Improvements to irrigation water supply and distribution systems 3. Improve water management, conservation, and efficiency. The Big Pine Tribe intents to primarily use force account staff for the work effort.

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