California wildfires have been increasing in intensity and duration, not only devastating communities, but also impacting drinking water supplies and environmental water quality. Wildfire events that occur within urban wildland interface areas not only directly damage water infrastructure, often resulting in temporary supply interruptions or quality impacts, but can also increase the potential for indirect post fire impacts such as erosion and mass wasting that impact communities and water supply resources.
Recognizing the impact of wildfires on local watersheds, the Los Angeles County Water Plan Strategy 12 focuses on facilitating regional collaboration between water management entities, as well as land and fire management organizations, to both mitigate and adapt to wildfire frequency, intensity, and risk within Los Angeles County. A Wildfire Working Group comprised of leaders from Los Angeles area water agency and advocacy groups convened this year to develop and implement a workplan that implements Strategy 12.
The workplan is focused on two key initiatives that build heavily upon recent work following the Eaton and Palisades fires. As much of the current focus is rightfully on recovery from these fires, the Wildfire Working Group’s aim is to collaborate on enhancing future wildfire resilience of regional water infrastructure and supplies. A primary step will be to identify and implement key regional wildfire resilience recommendations from recent Blue Ribbon Commission on Climate Action and Fire-Safe Recovery Action Plans and individual water agency’s After-Action Reports (AAR).
In addition to facilitating the Wildfire Working Group, Woodard & Curran recently completed a Palisades Fire AAR for Los Angeles County Public Works, Waterworks District 29 which provides drinking water to approximately 22,800 people through 7,500 metered connections in Malibu, Topanga, and Marina del Rey. The Palisades Fire burned for 24 days, impacting nearly 20 percent of the district’s service area. To provide an independent examination of the fire’s impacts on infrastructure and the district’s response before, during, and after the fire, the AAR specifically examined six key areas, including:
- Staff preparedness
- Mutual aid and communication
- Equipment and supplies
- Facility preparedness
- Response
- Recovery
The Wildfire Working Group is focused on the AAR recommendations that could be applied to multiple agencies within Los Angeles County — such as hardening of SCADA protective structures — and those that can benefit from regional collaboration — such as mutual aid agreements.
Although water supply agencies are actively working to mitigate and adapt to changing wildfire risk within Los Angeles County, it needs to be repeated that our water supply systems are designed to deliver water to homes and businesses and to meet local structure fire protection standards, but they are not designed to combat wildfires. It will take much larger regional efforts involving entities with land and fire management authority to reduce fire frequency, intensity, and risk to communities and environment. The Los Angeles County Water Plan is an opportunity to provide water agency partnership to support these regional efforts while increasing future water supply resilience.
