April 8, 2025
Funded by UCLA’s Climate & Wildfire Research Initiative and UCANR, the network aims to strengthen preparedness and recovery at the water-fire nexus
Photo Credit: John Chacon / California Department of Water Resources
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 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. The 2025 wildfires exposed significant vulnerabilities at the intersection of water supply and wildfire resilience.
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 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.
Visit our website for more information on our wildfire and water supply research. To learn more about CWRI, visit sustainablela.ucla.edu/cwri.
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