Rush Creek (Mono County, California)
| Rush Creek Lake Creek | |
|---|---|
Deep channel incision on Rush Creek due to lowering of Mono Lake. Photo by Greg Reis, courtesy of the Mono Lake Committee | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Region | Mono County |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Mount Lyell |
| • location | Madera County, Sierra Nevada, California |
| • coordinates | 37°44′22″N 119°16′18″W / 37.73944°N 119.27167°W |
| • elevation | 12,300 ft (3,700 m) |
| Mouth | Mono Lake |
• coordinates | 37°57′17″N 119°03′09″W / 37.95472°N 119.05250°W |
• elevation | 6,378 ft (1,944 m) |
| Length | 27.2 mi (43.8 km) |
| Basin size | 131 sq mi (340 km2) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | above Grant Lake |
| • average | 90 cu ft/s (2.5 m3/s) |
| • minimum | 16.6 cu ft/s (0.47 m3/s) |
| • maximum | 1,070 cu ft/s (30 m3/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Alger Creek, Parker Creek, Walker Creek |
| • right | Reversed Creek |
Rush Creek is a 27.2-mile-long (43.8 km) 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.