Being Present with L.A.’s Water Story

by Anne C. Mitchell, April 5, 2024

“More than what you call the capturing or retention of these waters, is speaking up to give the waters their rights. They need to flow freely. We need to stop taking the water from up north, which means we need to figure out how to stop damming up our waters. We had water sources. What happened to them? We need to bring that back. More than what we call things, we need to use our voice to do the right thing.” –Tina Calderon-Session One

The “Water Learning Series: Los Angeles” is an invitation into the complex, elaborate, and, oftentimes, contentious story of water in Los Angeles. The eleven episode series offers dialogue, collaboration, education, and dreaming into L.A. ‘s water story for a just and climate resilient future. The next conversation, Session Four, is on Thursday, April 11th at 6:00pm (PDT) with Jesse De La Cruz from Urbano Strategies sharing his work in fostering community connections and advocating for environmental justice in Los Angeles. Learn more HERE.

Session One: Indigenous Voices at the Forefront

Session Four builds upon a foundation of conversations that began in January. The first session featured Tina Calderon (Gabrielino Tongva, Chumash and Yoeme), Teri Red Owl (Bishop Paiute Tribe Nuumu from Payahuunadu), Annie Mendoza (Gabrieleno-Tongva), and Kyndall Noah (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) reflecting on the past, present, and future of water in Los Angeles. They spoke of ancestral memories when water was a relative, calling out the injustices that have led to water theft and continuous extraction. The guests shared an understanding of how a fear of water scarcity and voter ignorance drives an infrastructure that is literally throwing away life-giving waters. The conversation opened up into a wider community discussion about education and resource-sharing to create futures based on accountability and giving voice to the waters. Listen to the conversation HERE.

Session Two: A Vision for a Water Independent Los Angeles

Andy Lipkis, a pioneer in urban forestry, founder of TreePeople, and founder of Accelerate Resilience L.A. (ARLA), shared his understanding and vision of a water independent Los Angeles in Session Two, as well as an exciting new technological tool for communities to implement water-saving and urban heat reducing projects. Through decades of experience working for climate resiliency, Andy shared the challenges of a water independent Los Angeles. Despite the challenges, Andy offered a hopeful vantage point for shifting L.A.’s water story to one of healing and abundance through community action, funding, and education. Andy was joined by David McConville, Co-Creative Director of Spherical, in visually demonstrating a new piece of technology called the Living Infrastructure Field Kit. The Field Kit offers a game changing approach for organizations to plan and get funding for projects in collaboration with living systems to harvest rainwater, plant trees, and enhance community spaces supporting the healing of the waters and land in Los Angeles. Listen to the conversation HERE.

Session Three: L.A. Waters and Climate Mitigation

In Session Three, guests from LA Waterkeeper, Kelly Shannon McNeill (Associate Director) and Ben Harris (Staff Attorney), offered an in-depth climate change discussion about the astounding statistic that importing and treating water in L.A. “is the number one non-utility energy use in the entire state of California.” The guests also took a deep dive into the history and evolution of the L.A. River–from its pre-colonial incarnation that flooded seasonally, to its transformation into a concrete superhighway for water. The guests shared a vision of an ecologically restored L.A. River, providing intersectional and multi-use solutions for climate mitigation, equitable access to nature, and increased quality of life. Listen to the conversation HERE.

Learn more about the Water Learning Series: Los Angeles, and RSVP to all the conversations HERE.