Los Angeles Waterkeeper

The systems change program works to ensure local, low-carbon, and affordable water supplies and water-friendly land use & energy policies by holding our elected and agency officials accountable, promoting a 4r (reduce, reuse, recycle and restore) approach to water systems, and partnering with like-minded groups promoting water-friendly land-use, transportation, and energy policies. A hallmark accomplishment of this program was hosting an mwd advocacy training at the california endowment, with almost 30 diverse organizations in attendance, and the subsequent development of the mwd watch network to help bolster our initiative to reshape the metropolitan water district into an agency that will lead the way on local, climate resilient water supplies. We also developed two critical reports, one offering recommendations for reforming mwd's antiquated business model and the other with findings from a wastewater recycling technical advisory committee convening at ucla's luskin center for innovation. For the latter, we gathered 20 experts and 20 agency staff to discuss how to create a truly integrated wastewater recycling system in la and southern california. We continued our work around the safe clean water program including identifying exemplar stormwater infrastructure projects in round 6 of funding with the ourwaterla coalition-which we coordinate-and successfully advocating for a more proactive funding approach for the program which led to a program wide watershed planning process. Our infrastructure justice for la campaign culminated our 2024 work with a successful showcase with more than 100 attendees that walked through multi-benefit infrastructure and policy work in la, the challenges of multi-benefit infrastructure, how we measure impact of projects, and successful projects in la. And lastly, we reached more than 2 million angelenos through a behavior change program aimed at making water conservation a way of life and reducing residential water consumption by 25%.

The healthy habitats program works to achieve ecosystem health and resiliency for all the region's waters so they can support the communities and wildlife that depend on them. The organization does this through its marine and watershed programs, which seek to revitalize our coastal and riparian habitats through research, fieldwork, engagement with diverse communities, broad-based coalition building, and regulatory and legal enforcement and advocacy. We continued advocating for a healthy and resilient la river by completing a comprehensive literature review of existing planning documents and scientific studies related to the la river, as well as engaging dozens of scientific experts specializing in la river issues, to assess the potential for concrete removal from the river channel and restoration to a natural form. We also expanded our river assessment field team (raft) programs, which engaged 300+ volunteers in monitoring the health of the la river, including testing for the presence of pfas and coliform bacteria. With over 1,000 more volunteers helping collect pollution data on and remove thousands of pounds of trash from area rivers, creeks, and beaches.