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The
MONO LAKE COMMITTEE
Honors

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter

with the

1998 Defender of the Trust Award

 

December 10, 1998

The City Club on Bunker Hill

Los Angeles, California

 

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who chairs the Commerce, Energy, and Natural Resources Committee that oversees the Department of Water and Power (DWP), played a crucial role in negotiations between the Mono Lake Committee and the DWP. The result was successful joint applications for state and federal L.A. City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter (on left) with MLC Executive Director Frances Spivy-Weberfunding for water reclamation and water conservation projects which provided water sources to replace Mono Basin diversions.

Galanter (on left in photo) also crafted the low-flush toilet ordinance which requires installation of ultra-low flush toilets in all new construction projects. The ultra-low-flush toilet distribution program, run by Los Angeles community organizations, is credited with the installation of over one million ultra-low flush toilets since 1992, saving up to 8 billion gallons of water annually, creating jobs in economically disadvantaged communities, saving the City millions of dollars in wastewater treatment costs each year, and significantly reducing the amount of sewage flowing into the Santa Monica Bay. This year she authored another ordinance to require the installation of ultra-low flush toilets in all homes and apartment buildings before resale—saving more water and money for Los Angeles.

Galanter serves on the Environmental Quality and Waste Management Committee where she is at the forefront of environmental issues in Los Angeles. She is a tireless voice for clean air and water. She wrote the city’s gray water ordinance and helped develop the Westside Water Recycling Project, which will provide thousands of acre feet per year of recycled water for irrigation and industrial use in the Western Los Angeles Area.

The water supply of tomorrow

is the water that is already here.

Ruth Galanter, from Storm Over Mono by John Hart


Mono Lake Newsletter Article
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