LCI’s Gregory Pierce to lead a new water supply + wildfire research and policy coordination network

When wildfires swept through Los Angeles in 2025, the flames revealed more than just scorched communities and hillsides — they exposed the increasing intersection between wildfire risk and urban water infrastructure. In response, UCLA’s Climate & Wildfire Research Initiative has launched the Urban Water Supply + Fire working group to tackle this issue head-on.

Led by the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) in partnership with the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources’ California Institute for Water Resources, the working group will serve as a research and policy coordination network focused on developing research and policy solutions to challenges related to water supply infrastructure, resilience, and post-fire recovery. 

“This partnership couldn’t come at a more urgent time,” said Greg Pierce, co-executive director of LCI and chair of the new working group. “The 2025 wildfires exposed significant vulnerabilities at the intersection of water supply and wildfire resilience.”

Modeled after the National Science Foundation’s Research Coordination Network, the working group’s network aims to advance science and education by fostering communication, collaboration, and coordination among diverse groups of scientists, engineers, and educators across disciplines, organizations, and borders. The working group network will also focus on policy and result in a dynamic and impactful mix of written products and engagement activities. 

The working group is co-led by Faith Kearns, an LCI-affiliated scholar and expert on water, wildfire, and climate; Edith de Guzman, UCANR Water Equity and Adaptation Policy Cooperative Extension Specialist with LCI; and Erik Porse, Director of the California Institute for Water Resources. Together, these experts will work to advance actionable knowledge and policy recommendations.

Over the next two years, the working group will host four workshops to advance strategies to improve water system resilience, wildfire preparedness, and recovery efforts in California. The workshop will cover the following issues:

• Strengthening drinking water infrastructure resilience,
• Addressing equity in the cost of new investments,
• Ensuring water quality and community trust after fires, and
• Navigating the relationship among wildfire risk, vegetation, and water supply in urban areas.

For examples of related work, see the LCI’s FAQs and Redefining Expectations for Urban Water Supply Systems to Fight Wildfires (comment in Nature Water 2025).

Visit LCI’s website for more information on our wildfire and water supply research. To learn more about CWRI, visit sustainablela.ucla.edu/cwri.