Let’s Talk: The “4-R” Integrated Approach to Water Management
Oct 7, 2021
The California Aqueduct. Brings water collected from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and valleys of Northern and Central California to Southern California. Photo: SJV Water
Over the years, Los Angeles has experienced its fair share of drought, pushing the region to depend on outside resources to meet our local water needs. More than a century ago, William Mulholland and his engineering marvel, the Los Angeles Aqueduct, brought water to our arid region from the Owens Valley. Fifty years later, Governor Edmund “Pat” Brown finalized the State Water Project and California Aqueduct, bringing even more of this liquid gold to support our growing city and booming economy. In designing our current water systems, Brown and Mulholland thought BIG. While their innovations shaped Los Angeles, California, and the Western US for a century, it left us heavily dependent on water imports and had devastating impacts on our Northern CA rivers, the Sacramento Delta, Mono Lake, the Colorado River, and the local communities that depend on them.
Photo: Red Charlie
In the face of our code-red climate crisis and drought as our new normal, we can't rely on this business-as-usual approach. Our reservoirs and snowpack are at record lows – the sources we once relied on are drying up before our eyes – creating devastating results for our environment and the life that depends on it. And thanks to the acceleration of climate change and poor water management, we have found ourselves reeling in the impact of a more dangerous type of drought – a 'Mega-Drought.' Mega-Droughts occur rarely but have an unusual severity lasting for at least 20 years. According to NOAA's National Integrated Drought Information System, 100% of California is experiencing moderate-to-exceptional drought. The severity of the situation is unmatched, but LA Waterkeeper sees hope. This is an unprecedented opportunity to reshape LA's water future – a 'New Mulholland Moment' if you will.
With the backdrop of the worsening-by-the-day climate crisis, the Mega-Drought has highlighted the multitude of water crises we're facing, including affordability, ecological degradation, and a system ill-equipped for climate change. To add insult to injury, the water sector is the number one user of electricity in the state of California, contributing to climate change impacts that are destroying the very water resources we depend on. It's clear to LA Waterkeeper that our water supply problem is also a water management problem. In the face of the daunting climate crisis and drought, we can no longer rely on our business-as-usual approach. Instead, we must move towards a more sustainable model, one where water is captured, cleaned, and reused. This is precisely what LA Waterkeeper has advocated through a '4-R' approach (reducing water waste, reusing urban and stormwater runoff, recycling purified wastewater, and restoring contaminated groundwater). We can modernize our water infrastructure and move towards water independence through a local, climate-resilient, and affordable water portfolio.
The Los Angeles River.
What is the current approach to water management in Los Angeles and why is it ineffective?
Mulholland and Brown may have been pioneers that shaped Southern California and the west for a century. Still, their approach to water management has had a multitude of catastrophic consequences on our region. We are left suffering from this antiquated attitude towards water management, with initiatives largely fragmented, energy and resource-intensive, and disconnected from local communities. Not to mention, our water intake has contributed to environmental devastation – when much of the Owens River was diverted into the Los Angeles Aqueduct, it caused Owens Lake to dry up by 1926. Currently, the Los Angeles region relies on imported water for nearly 2/3 of our water supply. This water travels hundreds of miles across farmland, desert, and mountains via the State Water Project and the Los Angeles and Colorado River Aqueducts, where it's treated before reaching the taps of 10+ million Angelenos. After this energy-intensive and environmentally harmful process, this water is used once (in our homes, for irrigation, or industrial uses) and then is dumped into our river, creeks, and ocean through two routes:
Storm drain din Ballona Creek.
Untreated via our storm drain system and through our concretized River-turned-flood-control-channels
Treated through our wastewater system, and then disposed of into our waterways
By looking at rainwater and wastewater as a liability and maintaining the outdated 'pump-and-dump' approach within water management, Angelenos have been left vulnerable to the environmental and economic impacts of climate change and the disruption of water supply from drought and natural disasters. With many of the reservoirs and rivers that feed our water supply at record lows, the fragile state of our current water sources, and the immense damage our over-reliance on importing water has caused to the ecosystems and communities from where we have taken this water, is clear.
Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant. Where wastewater is treated and being discharged directly into our coastal waters daily. Photo: Brittany Murray.
As water has become scarcer, we have been looking for solutions in all the wrong places, such as climate-busting ocean desalination, costly water transfers, and other massive infrastructure. Not only are we under-investing in local water supplies, but we are also leaving Angelenos with the hefty price tag of these projects that our most vulnerable communities cannot afford. By under-investing in local water supplies, we are depriving the region of the opportunity for equitable, sustainable, and climate-resilient water supplies.
Why is water management crucial during a drought?
Climate change is causing extreme weather events in every region in the world. In California and most of the Western U.S. region, it's worsening wildfires and drought. Unfortunately, our current energy-intensive approach to water management - that has resulted in the water sector being responsible for more than 19% of all electricity consumption and 30% of non-utility natural gas consumption in the state - has made the water sector a major driver of climate change and has resulted in far too much pollution and waste in our local waterways – nearly 600 million gallons of treated water is still discharged into our inland and coastal waters every day! The sad truth is that the best path forward is just about the opposite of what we've done historically. Rather than importing water, we need to build up our local water supplies to ensure a lower carbon footprint, promote resiliency, reduce rates for our most vulnerable residents, and ensure safe, clean water in our taps. We can tackle LA's water supply issues while addressing climate change concerns by creating an integrated water management system via the ‘4-R’ approach. And like Mulholland and Brown before, we need to think BIG as we transform our water systems to a local, sustainable, climate-smart model.
Over-pumping of deep, commercial groundwater wells not only leaves residents’ wells dry, but causes levels of dangerous chemicals to rise. Photo via California Coastkeeper
What is LA Waterkeeper advocating for?
While Los Angeles has maintained wasteful and unimaginative water policies and ideas for so long while our water resources dwindled year after year, new leadership at our water agencies and green thinking elected officials have made considerable progress toward climate resiliency. However, there is more work that needs to be done. By following the Reduce (water waste), Reuse (urban and stormwater runoff), Recycle (wastewater), and Restore (contaminated groundwater) – or the 4'R integrated approach – that LA Waterkeeper has long championed, we can push LA forward and address the vast issues that plague our water system. While individual actions matter, we must make a fundamental system change to gain water independence and manage the daunting Mega-Drought holding the West with an iron fist. To ensure sustainable and equitable water policies and clean, safe, and healthy waters for all Angelenos, a 4R approach over more expensive and environmentally harmful water supply options is key. As we wrap up 2021, LA Waterkeeper will be breaking down what each 'R' of the integrated approach means and sharing how they can lead to a more sustainable and climate-resilient water supply. So, stick around and learn more on how together we can ‘Douse this Drought’.