Securing a Climate-Resilient Water Supply
4R
Overview
At the turn of the 20th century, Los Angeles was running out of water. William Mulholland’s answer was to build outward: aqueducts, reservoirs, and pipelines that could bring water from across California and the Colorado River.
That system made modern Los Angeles possible. It also left the city dependent on water from places now under serious strain — including the Bay-Delta, the Colorado River, Mono Lake, and the Owens Valley.
Climate change is making that bargain harder to sustain. Shrinking snowpacks and less predictable rainfall make imported water less reliable. Drier landscapes raise the risk of wildfire. Then, when heavy storms do come, they overwhelm streets and storm drains, sending polluted runoff into creeks, rivers, and the ocean.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles still sends hundreds of millions of gallons of treated wastewater into the ocean every day — water we could be recycling instead
The next chapter has to look different. By capturing more stormwater, recycling more wastewater, and investing in local water supplies, Los Angeles can reduce pollution, ease pressure on distant ecosystems, and become more prepared for drought, flood, wildfire, and earthquakes.
Los Angeles was built on a bold water decision. Now it needs another one — this time focused not on taking more from somewhere else, but on making better use of the water already here.
Nearly
two-thirds
of Los Angeles’ water comes from hundreds of miles away
The Challenge
Every day, Los Angeles sends
600 million gallons
of treated wastewater into the ocean - water we could be recycling to help fight drought and store for future use
Moving and treating water accounts for about
19%
of California’s overall electricity use
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Stormwater runoff is the largest source of pollution in Los Angeles, yet it remains underregulated. We work to strengthen permits and close regulatory gaps so that pollution from streets, commercial areas, schools, and construction sites is stopped before it reaches our waterways.
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We regularly monitor LA’s coastline and the waterways that flow into it. By testing for bacterial contamination and emerging contaminants like PFAS (forever chemicals), tracking pollution in real time, we help identify chronic issues and push for faster, more transparent alert systems to better safeguard public health.
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No one wants to go to court. We use litigation as a last resort, when other efforts to resolve violations of our clean water laws have failed. But when it is necessary, we make sure it leads to something positive. Through Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs), settlement funds are redirected into community projects that restore waterways and support neighborhoods most impacted by pollution.
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Pollutants like PFAS (forever chemicals) and microplastics are increasingly showing up in our waterways, with serious long-term health impacts. We support monitoring, research, and policy efforts to better understand these threats and stop them from entering our water in the first place.
Solutions
Los Angeles needs a different approach to water, one that treats it as a precious resource, not something to use once and throw away.
At LA Waterkeeper, we advocate for a 4R approach to water management: reuse stormwater, recycle wastewater, reduce water waste, and restore groundwater.
