| Owens Valley | |
|---|---|
 Owens River from Bishop Tuff tableland. | |
 | |
| Floor elevation | 4,000 feet (1,200 m) |
| Length | 75 miles (121 km) North to South |
| Naming | |
| Native name | Payahǖǖnadǖ (Mono) |
| Geography | |
| Population centers | Bishop, Lone Pine, Independence, Big Pine |
| Borders on | Inyo Mountains (E) Coso Range (SE) Rose Valley (S) Sierra Nevada (W) Chalfant Valley (N)[1] |
| Coordinates | 36°48′09″N 118°11′59″W / 36.80250°N 118.19972°W |
| Traversed by | U.S. Route 395 |
| Rivers | Owens River |
Owens Valley (Mono: Payahǖǖnadǖ, meaning "place of flowing water") is an arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States. It is located to the east of the Sierra Nevada, west of the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains, and is split between the Great Basin Desert and the Mojave Desert.[2] The mountain peaks on the West side (including Mount Whitney) reach above 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in elevation, while the floor of the Owens Valley is about 4,000 feet (1,200 m), making the valley the deepest in the United States.[3] The Sierra Nevada casts the valley in a rain shadow, which makes Owens Valley "the Land of Little Rain".[4] The bed of Owens Lake, now a predominantly dry endorheic alkali flat, sits on the southern end of the valley.
The current arid nature of the valley is mostly due to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power diverting the water of the region. The valley provides water to the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the source of one-third of the water for city, and was the area at the center of one of the fiercest and longest-running episodes of the California Water Wars.[5] Owens Lake was completely emptied by 1926, only 13 years after Los Angeles began diverting water. The water diversions inspired aspects of the 1974 film Chinatown.
Towns in the Owens Valley include Bishop, Lone Pine, Independence and Big Pine; about 25,000 people live in the valley. The major road in the Owens Valley is U.S. Route 395.
- ^ "Owens Valley". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved May 3, 2009.
- ^ "Ecoregions of California" (PDF). US Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
- ^ Smith, Genny; Jeff Putnam (1976). Deepest Valley: a Guide to Owens Valley, its roadsides and mountain trails (2nd ed.). Genny Smith books. ISBN 0-931378-14-1.
- ^ Austin, Mary Hunter (1903). Land of Little Rain. Houghton, Mifflin and Company. ISBN 0-8263-0358-7.
- ^ "Los Angeles Aqueduct". Archived from the original on July 10, 2011. Retrieved October 17, 2010. LADWP