Rush Creek (Mono County, California)

Rush Creek
Lake Creek[1]
Deep channel incision on Rush Creek due to lowering of Mono Lake. Photo by Greg Reis, courtesy of the Mono Lake Committee
Map
Location
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
RegionMono County
Physical characteristics
SourceMount Lyell
 • locationMadera County, Sierra Nevada, California
 • coordinates37°44′22″N 119°16′18″W / 37.73944°N 119.27167°W / 37.73944; -119.27167[2]
 • elevation12,300 ft (3,700 m)
MouthMono Lake
 • coordinates
37°57′17″N 119°03′09″W / 37.95472°N 119.05250°W / 37.95472; -119.05250[2]
 • elevation
6,378 ft (1,944 m)
Length27 mi (43 km)
Basin size131 sq mi (340 km2)
Discharge 
 • locationabove Grant Lake
 • average90 cu ft/s (2.5 m3/s)
 • minimum16.6 cu ft/s (0.47 m3/s)
 • maximum1,070 cu ft/s (30 m3/s)
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftAlger Creek, Parker Creek, Walker Creek
 • rightReversed Creek

Rush Creek is a 27.2-mile-long (43.8 km)[3] creek in California on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, running east and then northeast to Mono Lake. Rush Creek is the largest stream in the Mono Basin, carrying 41% of the total runoff. It was extensively diverted by the Los Angeles Aqueduct system in the twentieth century until California Trout, Inc., the National Audubon Society, and the Mono Lake Committee sued Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) for continuous low flows in Rush Creek to maintain trout populations in good condition, which was ordered by the court in 1985.

  1. ^ Peter Browning (1988). Yosemite Place Names. Lafayette, California: Great West Books. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-944220-19-1. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
  2. ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Rush Creek
  3. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed March 17, 2011