The initial academic study asked California households, in a mail survey, whether they would pay more on their water bill for higher cost replacement water supplies, so that natural flows could once again go into Mono Lake. They were told that, according to biologists, the higher flows to the lake were needed to maintain food supplies for nesting and migratory birds.
The average willingness to pay per household was estimated to be $13 per month, or $156 per year. When multiplied by the number of households in California, the total benefits exceeded the $26 million cost of replacing the water supply by a factor of 50. One impact of the survey results was to change the nature of the debate over Mono Lake from "fish or people" to one that recognized that people care about fish and birds, as well as about inexpensive water supplies for Los Angeles.