WATER SYSTEMS & FIRE RESILIENCE

In recent years, fires have begun revealing a hidden vulnerability: our urban water systems. While water utilities are built to support drinking needs and firefighting in neighborhoods, most have not been designed or enabled to respond to large wildland-urban fire events.

That gap became starkly clear in the January 2025 Los Angeles fires, when events and new, politicized narratives raised expectations regarding damaged water infrastructure, threatened water quality, and increased the strain on utilities as they scrambled to support fire response. Our experts are closing that gap by bringing focused research, policy coordination, and community engagement to the intersection of water resilience and fire risk. We are catalyzing new research and cross-sector collaboration, while providing water managers, policymakers, and communities with guidance and tools to better prepare for fire’s impacts.

CURRENT PROJECT(S)

Chaired by Greg Pierce, the Urban Water Supply + Fire working group of the Climate & Wildfire Research Initiative will form a Research and Policy Coordination Network and facilitate workshops on the following topics:

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

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Researcher(s): Greg Pierce
Funder: Climate & Wildfire Research Initiative

In partnership with Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles, Rachel Connolly and her colleagues aim to address community concerns about air and water quality following the January 2025 fires. The researchers will center community perspectives to collect information about how residents perceived personal environmental risks before, during, and after the fires, including their trust in public information sources. Ultimately, the project seeks to advance environmental justice by supporting community-led efforts to build resilience during climate-driven crises.

Researcher(s): Rachel Connolly, Gregory Pierce, Megan Mullin, and Silvia R. González
Funder: UCLA Center for Community Engagement (Social Impact Collaboratives) and The Water Foundation

PUBLISHED RESEARCH

Workshop Synthesis Report

Author(s): Gregory Pierce, Jennifer Gorman, Faith Kearns, Edith de Guzman, Erik Porse, Camilo Salcedo, Megan Mullin, and Ahmed Rachid El-Khattabi
Funder: UCLA Climate and Wildfire Research Institute, UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, The Water Foundation, and California Institute for Water Resources

This research finds that as wildfires intensify across the western U.S., water systems are under growing pressure to support emergency response while maintaining safe and affordable service. It shows that current infrastructure, legal frameworks, and funding mechanisms are not well-suited to wildfire-related investments, and that expanding fire-flow capacity could strain affordability and system viability. The findings highlight the need for clearer roles, stronger coordination, and more durable, equitable funding strategies for wildfire resilience.

Read the report

Discussion Paper

Researcher(s): Gregory Pierce, Edith de Guzman, Erik Porse, Daniel Coffee, and Camilo Salcedo

This discussion paper covers California state oversight options for community water systems and wildfire fighting, outlining pros, cons, and evidence-based considerations. The researchers recommend carefully evaluating oversight options while recognizing that only evidence-based, financially supported, and legally prudent guidance may ultimately prove effective to further combat wildfires in the state.

Read the discussion paper

Workshop Synthesis Report

Author(s): Gregory Pierce, Erik Porse, Faith Kearns, Edith de Guzman, Camilo Salcedo, Jennifer Gorman, and Ariana Hernandez
Funder: UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge Climate and Wildfire Research Initiative, UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, and The Water Foundation

A year after the 2025 LA fires, this report synthesizes findings from a workshop of 42 experts from water agencies, fire services, research institutions, and state and local organizations who discussed and evaluated system risks, infrastructure constraints, communication and coordination challenges, and potential interventions. The report examines water systems’ wildfire-fighting capacities, limitations, and resilience needs. These insights aim to support more informed preparedness, response, and recovery at the water–fire nexus.

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An Expert Convening on Wildfire and Climate Solutions

Author(s): Gregory Pierce, Lauren Dunlap, and others
Funder: Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP)

In the wake of catastrophic firestorms in L.A., LADWP and UCLA convened more than 100 academic, industry, and government stakeholders to answer a critical question: How can LADWP help build a more resilient city by adopting new and emerging technologies and strategies? The one-day, intensive workshop provided a venue for open, timely information sharing and advanced collaborative efforts to spur innovation in four key areas: advanced metering infrastructure, utility undergrounding, water distribution system infrastructure, and wildfire risk assessment.

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How to improve drought and wildfire resilience for small water systems in L.A. County, with a focus on consolidation, emergency preparedness, and equitable access to safe drinking water.

Researcher(s): Alex Sun, Allison Samsel, Aydin Pasebani, Catherine Ren, Chloe Curry, Dana Choi, Emily Cadena, Leo Blain, Leila Moinpour, Nasir Sakandar, Veronica De Santos, and Will Callan

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Author(s): Megan Mullin, director et al.
Funder: California Community Foundation

The catastrophic Los Angeles firestorms of January 2025 served as a critical turning point for the Southern California region, causing widespread destruction, displacement, and loss of life. In the fires’ wake lie challenges at every scale.

As partner to the Blue Ribbon Commission on Climate Action and Fire Safe Recovery, UCLA’s role was twofold: to provide Commissioners with rigorous, up-to-date, and actionable knowledge from leading subject matter experts, and to engage and elevate the voices of communities impacted by the fires. UCLA’s goal was to ensure that the Commissioners could consider this information, along with their own expertise and guidance from other stakeholders, as they formulated their policy recommendations.

This report offers a summary of the most relevant knowledge curated, consolidated, and presented by UCLA to the Commissioners.

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This report presents an early overview of how the 11 community water systems, two wastewater systems, and thousands of private well and septic systems were affected by the January 2025 LA County wildfires.

Luskin Center for Innovation Researcher(s): Gregory Pierce, Ariana Hernandez, Grace Harrison, and Edith de Guzman

In January 2025, LA County experienced multiple fast-moving fires that began as wildland events but quickly spread into residential areas, destroying homes and critical infrastructure. This report provides an early assessment of the Palisades and Eaton fires’ impacts on local water systems, focusing on damage to infrastructure, service disruptions, and the unique vulnerabilities of the affected communities.

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Researcher(s): Gregory Pierce, co-executive director; Edith de Guzman, water equity and adaptation policy specialist; and Megan Mullin, faculty director

The authors discuss three major implications stemming from the water supply narratives around the Los Angeles fires that have emerged: the need for greater infrastructure resilience, considering the uneven costs of new expectations, and combating disinformation.

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This FAQ about wildfires provides clear, accurate answers to the most common questions we heard from the public, media, and policymakers about fire hydrants, firefighting, water infrastructure, and more after the devastating LA wildfires in 2025.

Researcher(s): Gregory Pierce, Faith Kearns, Silvia González, Lauren Dunlap

This FAQ about wildfires provides clear, accurate answers to the most common questions we hear from the public, media, and policymakers about fire hydrants, firefighting, water infrastructure, and more after the devastating LA wildfires in 2025.

Read in English | Leer en Español

Advancing a Research and Policy Agenda

Researcher(s): Gregory Pierce, Peter Roquemore, and Faith Kearns
Funder: U.S. Geological Survey through the California Institute for Water Resources

This report brings together insights from 23 water and fire experts to answer a critical question: How can California proactively protect its water supply from fires? By compiling and building on the results of a 2021 workshop, the report presents recommendations to help build an understanding of the complex relationship between fires and water systems. This project was a joint effort by the Luskin Center for Innovation and the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources California Institute for Water Resources.

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MEDIA COVERAGE

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