The environmental justice group Riverpark Coalition (RPC) and the environmental watchdog organization Los Angeles Waterkeeper filed a lawsuit last week against the City of Long Beach over the City’s approval of a self-storage warehouse project along the Los Angeles River at 3701 Pacific Place.

The Los Angeles River could be — and should be — one of the Los Angeles region’s most powerful tools for climate adaptation. Instead, it remains a symbol of past planning failures — and an example of how those mistakes continue to shape the future of cities along the river like Long Beach. 

From sick marine life to increasingly frequent harmful algal blooms, at LA Waterkeeper, we understand these are not isolated events — they’re a wake-up call. A signal that the way we’ve managed water in Los Angeles for the past century is not working, and that change is not only necessary, it’s long overdue.

New Data Collected by Waterkeeper Alliance Found 98% of Surface Waters Tested Across the Country Were Contaminated by Dangerous PFAS Chemicals 

One thing is clear: the road to recovery will be long and challenging, but it is one we must navigate with care, foresight, and a commitment to real change. 

Though recent headlines may suggest these problems are new, the reality is that bacterial contamination, ocean advisories, and beach closures have been worsening in recent years. It’s enough to make any beach-going Angeleno wonder: what’s going on, and is this something people should be worried about?

PFAS are so prevalent that they have polluted drinking water systems in all 50 states. Thankfully, despite industries’ best efforts to avoid regulation, we are finally seeing progress made to protect Americans from these dangerous forever chemicals.

One year after the Hyperion Water Treatment Plant released 12.5 million gallons of raw sewage, regulators have yet to levy penalties for the spill.