About
The site is an extensive, interactive platform for compiling and mapping water management information throughout the region, including groundwater basins, water importing and supply agencies, and regional and distant water sources. It also provides links to key modeling tools for assessing large-scale regional goals of future management. All data contained in the site originates from publicly-available sources, including:
- Urban Water Management Plans
- Groundwater Basin Watermaster Reports
- Groundwater Basin Adjudication Documents
- Publicly-Available Shape Files for Water Supply Retailers and Contractors
In coming decades, LA will likely transition to a future of greater reliance on local supplies, driving by economics, technology, and changes in social preferences. The LA Water Hub and the Artes model demonstrate the value of data-driven analysis in supporting this transition, to be sure that LA residents have a voice in creating a city where we want to live.
The Team
The LA Water Hub is housed at the UCLA California Center for Sustainable Communities. Stephanie Pincetl and Erik Porse are the project architects. Claire Hirashiki is a principal web designer and Scott Gruber within UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability is the web administrator. A talented and diverse team contributed to collecting and managing the supporting database of Los Angeles water-related data, including past CCSC members Paul Cleland, Janet Rodriguez, and Debbie Cheng.
A team of contributors across universities has worked for years to assemble data necessary to understand urban water management in Los Angeles. Diane Pataki and Liza Litvak from the University of Utah's Urban Ecology Research Lab conducted on-the-ground measurements of lawn and tree water use in LA. Terri Hogue, with a decade of research on urban hydrology in LA, most recently led research with Kim Manago and graduate researchers at the Colorado School of Mines to understand imported water effects on LA hydrology and devise watershed-by-watershed assessments of local water supply potential for LA City. Mark Gold and Katie Mika have assembled one of the most comprehensive studies to date of sustainable urban water management as part of the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge goal of achieving 100% local water supply in LA. The results of this work, funded by the LA Bureau of Sanitation, are being released in 2017 for each watershed in Los Angeles. Felicia Federico and Mark Gold publish a comprehensive report of sustainability indicators in LA, the LA Environmental Report Card, which provides important benchmarks and calibration for water management research.
Features
Interactive Maps
The interactive maps allow users to view information about water supply agencies and groundwater basins throughout metropolitan L.A. County
Analysis
Data stories describe regional trends in the supply and use of water throughout L.A. County. This section of the website is updated regularly and will welcome data discoveries from stakeholders, researchers and the curious.
Database
The database of collected information on LA County water supply, groundwater, wastewater, and stormwater information is available through an open-source repository.
Usage and Benefits
The site is the first available source of compiled information on water management across the over one-hundred agencies that import, supply, distribute, and remove water from households and businesses throughout the metropolitan Los Angeles area.
About CCSC
The mission of the California Center for Sustainable Communities, directed by Dr. Stephanie Pincetl, is to create actionable science that improves the sustainability of urban systems. It aims to provide intellectual and conceptual frameworks for new synthesis and thinking in sustainability research for all Californians. For cities to remain habitable, profound changes need to occur both in cities themselves and in the ways they impact the surrounding landscapes and hinterlands. Achieving progress toward sustainability requires maintaining and improving both human and ecosystem well-being. Our challenge is to make cities centers of sustainability in the ways they develop and redevelop beyond the next century.
For more information, please visit the center’s website.