[staytrue]

I think the caspian sea, along with Lake mono in the US are suffering the same fates.

[blam]

"I think the caspian sea, along with Lake mono in the US are suffering the same fates."

I think you're referring to the Aral Sea in Russia and the Salton Sea in California.

[inPhase]

Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierras is kept at a level that among other things keeps an small island from being accessable to coyotes.

The water from the Sierras was awarded to the LA water district after what are known as the Water Wars during the late 1800's through at least the 1930's.

But many streams are dammed and I suspect that Mono Lake would have died off without having water released to it. The alkalinity progression is somewhat known. The Lake bed has shrunken over time. The native Indians marked their presense in time on the land and water system in the Eastern Sierras (as in the Amazon) without hi tech.

The scale of diversion of the Sierra water is another matter and I would hope that LA (and SD) start desalination plans.