LA County Water Plan Charts Course for a Resilient and Sustainable Water Future
December 7, 2023
In a significant move, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors officially adopted the First Edition of the Los Angeles County Water Plan (CWP) this past Tuesday, marking a crucial step towards achieving resilient and sustainable water resources for the region. Among other things, the Plan primarily outlines how Los Angeles must stop importing 60% of its water and pivot over the next two decades to sourcing 80% of its water locally by 2045, reports The Los Angeles Times.
The adoption follows a comprehensive public review process initiated earlier this summer, during which LA Waterkeeper provided constructive feedback on the earlier County Water Plan draft. While the earlier iteration of the CWP made significant strides toward achieving its goals to sustainably secure safe, clean, and reliable water resources for Los Angeles County, LA Waterkeeper identified a few potential areas for improvement, including:
More aggressive goals around centralized and decentralized stormwater capture and recharge, particularly through nature-based solutions
Prioritizing the CWP goals, with more specific implementation plans
Creating additional avenues for continuous community engagement
In response to public feedback, the Board, led by new Chair Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, released an updated version of the CWP, and concurrently adopted a motion outlining specific measures to fulfill the Plan's objectives. Such measures include increasing local water supply by 600,000-acre feet per year (half of which via stormwater capture and storage); creating a local task force to coordinate water conservation and drought-preparedness efforts; convening a Water Resiliency Summit with area water agencies and other stakeholders; and creating a panel to develop standards "for nature- based water management solutions.”
Following Tuesday’s meeting, LA Waterkeeper believes the final version of the CWP along with Supervisor Horvath's implementation motions will greatly improve the CWP’s future effectiveness. We applaud the County for incorporating our feedback throughout the development of this plan and especially moving it beyond goal-setting to an emphasis on implementation.
“Achieving a resilient water future for the County requires us to actively implement the Water Plan,” Supervisor Horvath said in her motion, “The County must both double the amount of water it captures from stormwater and double its current supply of local water supplies by 2045. […] This ambitious and necessary plan will set the County towards a resilient and sustainable water future. "
“This week marks an important step in the region's path towards a sustainable water future,” explains Bruce Reznik, Executive Director of Los Angeles Waterkeeper. “We’ve launched a number of efforts in recent years aimed at making our communities healthier and more resilient, including the Safe Clean Water Program (SCWP), the most ambitious stormwater investment program in the nation. We should celebrate the accomplishments of these efforts, while also recognizing the opportunity and need to be more strategic about how we make our investments in light of worsening climate impacts.
“With the Adoption of the County Water Plan, Supervisor Horvath’s implementation motions, and the SCWP’s Biennial Review, we’re moving towards that proactive vision that furthers LA’s position as a leader on sustainable, equitable, and climate-friendly water supplies.”