By Caleigh Wells for KCRW.
Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration

Hours after another storm soaked Southern California, LA County’s principal stormwater engineer Sterling Klippel stands at the base of the San Gabriel Dam, looking like a kid in a candy store. He gazes in awe at the thousands of gallons of stormwater rushing through this dam every second.

“Just this October, this facility was completely drained,” he says.

This dam is almost 300 feet deep in the middle, and it went from empty to full in less than six months. And it’s just one of more than a dozen dams in the county.

Soggy Southern California has gotten more than two feet of rain this season – so far, about double an average year, making it one of the top 10 wettest years on record.

“It's amazing to see it when it's here, and every drop is precious. So we do our best to capture every drop of it,” says Klippel. 

Los Angeles County is on track to capture enough stormwater this year to quench the year-round water needs of more than a quarter of the county’s residents. It’s good news, but there is still a lot of work to do to meet local water use goals.

'A good job of for the infrastructure we have'

“We're making strides, and we just need to make sure that we don't let our foot off the gas,” says Bruce Reznik. He leads the nonprofit LA Waterkeeper, which is the city’s self-proclaimed water watchdog. “We have done a good job, for the infrastructure we have.”

That’s thanks to nearly century-old infrastructure that’s still working. 

Trickling waterfalls in the San Gabriel Mountains typically drain into giant dams like the San Gabriel Dam, which was built in the 1930s. When they get full, public works officials open the floodgates at the bottom of the dams to send the water downstream.

“From there, we release it and we send it down to our spreading grounds, which are these large basins,” says Klippel. “The water then will percolate through this kind of sandy gravelly geology here and recharge these local aquifers where later it's pumped out for local municipal water use.”

'A century worth of poor planning'

Klippel says LA County gets about a third of its water from those aquifers while the rest is imported either from Northern California or from the Colorado River.

But the City of LA’s goal is to flip that equation by 2035, using two-thirds local water and cutting Southern California's dependence on imported water. Reznik says the local infrastructure is just not set up for that yet.

“A lot of that is because … so much of LA is channelized and concretized and urbanized, that we're not letting Mother Nature do its job of capturing the stormwater, letting it recharge our groundwater,” he says. “We are trying to undo a century worth of poor planning around water, and it's going to take us a while.”

LA is so developed and has such high flood risk that for decades the county has focused on funneling water as quickly and safely as possible straight to the ocean. 

In big storms like we’ve seen this winter, that’s happening no matter how hard Klippel tries to stop it. “With so much water in the system at this point, there is some water that's still making its way to the ocean.”

Infrastructure woes can get solved with big investments, but Californians decided years ago that two-thirds of voters need to approve new taxes for stormwater capture. That’s an extremely high bar.

“Unfortunately, it's actually very hard to fund stormwater projects,” says Resnik. “There has been a decade's long lack of funding for stormwater infrastructure.”

Which is why people like Reznik were so thrilled when county voters passed Measure W five years ago that devotes $280 million each year to water projects. 

But as the climate crisis worsens, more money has to go toward maintaining current infrastructure. For example, wildfire burn scars result in more loose soil falling into the dams and leaving less space for water.

Officials anticipate it’ll take several billion dollars to hit that 2035 goal to use mostly local water.

“Which seems pretty ambitious to me,” says USC Assistant Professor of civil and environmental engineering Dan McCurry. He says stormwater capture is actually one of the best tools we’ve got for cutting down our reliance on imported water.

“We're not talking about complicated, energy-intensive, expensive engineering treatment processes like we have to do for wastewater reuse. So in some sense, stormwater capture – when it's available – is low-hanging fruit.”


Caleigh Wells wrote this article for KCRW.


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Iowa is getting federal help to eliminate lead water pipes in the state.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is working with local water agencies, planning where to prioritize funds.

As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, cities and towns in Iowa are reducing the number of dangerous lead water lines.

The Iowa Environmental Council's Director of Climate Initiatives Cody Smith said even homes built as recently as 1988 are connected to the local water utility with lead lines - which leaves people at risk, even in Iowa's big cities like Des Moines and Council Bluffs.

"Particularly with the most vulnerable groups, such as unborn babies or young children, they have extreme and outsize risk related to exposure to lead through lead service lines," said Smith. "That can cause higher levels of lead in the blood and lead to developmental issues for children."

The State's Revolving Fund, which is the primary source for water infrastructure updates, has received more than $620 million as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The IEC says more than 700 communities have benefited so far.

Beyond replacing lead pipes and updating water system infrastructure, Smith said Iowa could also benefit from help with what are known as non-point source projects.

"Which is runoff from agricultural fields and from livestock operations that lead to nutrient pollution in source water," said Smith. "And source water is water that's used for drinking water somewhere in the state."

Smith said those strategies can help farmers and local utilities reduce nitrates and other pollutants in the soil.

The Biden administration has a goal of replacing all lead water service lines in the U.S. by 2031.




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Nearly a year after the U.S. Supreme Court left key watersheds unprotected by the Clean Water Act, the Polis administration has designated new protections for some 385 miles across 15 rivers and streams in the Upper and Lower Colorado, Eagle, Yampa and Roaring Fork river basins.

Chad Rudow, water quality program manager with the Roaring Fork Conservancy, said the Outstanding Waters designation is an important tool for protecting drinking water.

"Which means it's protecting the actual quality of the water, and that's the highest level of protection that can be given to a stream within the state of Colorado," he said.

The designation aims to protect existing high-quality waterways from any future degradation, including pollution from development, mining, oil and gas extraction, and other uses. It does not affect any existing uses in the watershed, so long as they don't degrade current water quality.

The designation, which won unanimous approval by the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission in late August, comes after years of work done by conservation groups.

Carrie Sandstedt, senior officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts, said protections are still needed for many streams in the state, and added that protecting water quality is critical not only for drinking water but also healthy wildlife habitat and ecosystems.

"This designation not only protects rivers and streams, it also protects their associated wetlands. It helps preserve important plant life and other species critical for healthy freshwater habitats," she said.

The designation also protects one of the state's biggest economic drivers. A recent study found that Colorado's river basins generated nearly $11 billion in outdoor recreation spending in 2019. Rudow noted clean water is essential for swimming, rafting and other activities across the Roaring Fork Valley.

"We have the second longest contiguous reach of Gold Medal water in our watersheds, so that's high-quality fishing streams. People come from all over the world, literally, to go fly fishing," he explained.

World Water Week is underway, as leaders forge discussions on the global water crisis. Supply issues aren't as urgent in North Dakota, but that doesn't mean conservation is an afterthought.

Dani Quissell - executive director of the North Dakota Water Education Foundation - said the state is lucky to sit on a more predictable water supply, namely the Missouri River, when compared to elsewhere in the U.S.

But she acknowledged that droughts in recent years serve as a reminder for state & local governments, and residents, to not take this precious resource for granted.

At home, she said basic conservation tips still apply.

"Being mindful on when we're letting the tap run where you're filling a pitcher," said Quissell, "and then you walk away for a minute to go let the dog out or something, keeping in mind that that water is running over and right down the drain."

She said that mindfulness should also come into play with other daily practices, like brushing your teeth.

As for policymakers, Quissell encouraged strong communication across various agencies - to ensure water supplies are prioritized when mapping out commercial and residential development.

Surging demand and uneven regulations have plagued western states as key water sources dry up.

Quissell argued that North Dakota closely monitors water use around the state. As climate change threats take shape, she said that has to be the approach moving forward.

"It's a mindset to have in wet periods and dry periods," said Quissell. "I think you build those habits over the long term. I think it's important to be thinking about being a good steward of the resource to have available for our children and our grandchildren."

Agriculture is one sector that has come under scrutiny for how it uses up water for food production. But Quissell said innovation and technology have helped to address that problem.

For homeowners irrigating their lawns, she urged them to run sprinklers at dusk or pre-dawn. That way, the water won't quickly evaporate in the midday heat.



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