From the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs:
A team of UCLA master’s students in urban and regional planning (MURP) has produced an extensive report, “Drought and Climate Resiliency Solutions for Small Water Systems in Los Angeles County,” offering real-world strategies to strengthen water security and climate resilience.
When the January 2025 wildfires swept through Pacific Palisades, a group of MURP students witnessed the devastation unfold in real time on their first day of class. What started as a class project on water system vulnerabilities quickly became a real-world assignment: students, many personally affected by the fires, sprang into action to research and propose solutions that not only addressed the immediate impacts of the wildfires but also offered long-term strategies to strengthen water security and climate resilience.
Developed in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works and guided by faculty at the Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI), the year-long project examines the vulnerabilities of small water systems, many of which were directly impacted by the L.A. wildfires, and proposes solutions to ensure safe and reliable drinking water for fire-impacted communities across Los Angeles County.
The twelve-student research team included Alex Sun, Allison Samsel, Aydin Pasebani, Catherine Ren, Chloe Curry, Dana Choi, Emily Cadena, Leo Blain, Leila Moinpour, Nasir Sakandar, Veronica De Santos, and Will Callan. They conducted in-depth analyses on drought risk, wildfire impacts, and system preparedness, culminating in a professional presentation of their findings. Their work is already informing county and state-wide efforts to advance the human right to water and shape long-term climate resilience strategies.
“This work by our student team will serve to directly inform real-time L.A. County and California state agency efforts to ensure a human right to water in the region,” said Greg Pierce, UCLA professor of urban planning, LCI senior director, and director of the Human Rights to Water Solutions Lab who co-advised the report. “The methodologies developed on drought water shortage risk and fire vulnerability also have wide applicability well beyond the county.”
Edith de Guzman, adjunct professor of urban planning and water equity and adaptation policy cooperative extension specialist at LCI was another co-advisor on the project and underscored the importance of the students’ work. “This project benefited greatly from the hard work, diligence, and nimbleness of a dozen MURP students,” de Guzman said. “In the end, the result is an impressive suite of actionable assessments, analyses, and findings — all painstakingly documented.”
A key emphasis of the report is the feasibility of water system consolidation, an approach that can improve technical and financial stability for struggling utilities. Alongside consolidation, the report also considers alternative strategies such as water conservation, new well development, and recycling projects.
“This suite of outcomes contributes innovative new guidance in understudied and largely unregulated spaces — including community water system fire risk and preparedness,” said de Guzman.
Pierce praised the students’ work following the capstone presentation: “You did amazing work that culminated in a professional presentation that demonstrates real solutions for climate resiliency in small water systems. But at its core, this report is about water access as a human right. You should all be very proud.”
The findings are a partial preview of the Southern California Community Water Systems Guide, which will be released by LCI in late Summer 2025. This guide will present performance data on all community water systems in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties, building on analyses completed in 2015 and 2020, which focused only on Los Angeles County.
