Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Fragmented Flows: Water Supply in Los Angeles County

  • Published:
Environmental Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the Los Angeles metropolitan region, nearly 100 public and private entities are formally involved in the management and distribution of potable water—a legacy rooted in fragmented urban growth in the area and late 19th century convictions about local control of services. Yet, while policy debates focus on new forms of infrastructure, restructured pricing mechanisms, and other technical fixes, the complex institutional architecture of the present system has received little attention. In this paper, we trace the development of this system, describe its interconnections and disjunctures, and demonstrate the invisibility of water infrastructure in LA in multiple ways—through mapping, statistical analysis, and historical texts. Perverse blessings of past water abundance led to a complex, but less than resilient, system with users accustomed to cheap, easily accessible water. We describe the lack of transparency and accountability in the current system, as well as its shortcomings in building needed new infrastructure and instituting new water rate structures. Adapting to increasing water scarcity and likely droughts must include addressing the architecture of water management.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Source: shapefiles from the LA County GIS Data Portal, California Environmental Health Tracking Program, LAFCO, and individual suppliers (California Water Service Company, Golden State Water Company, Suburban Water Systems, Park Water Company, City of Azusa, City of Torrance, City of Downey, and Foothill MWD)

Fig. 2

Source: shapefiles from the LA County GIS Data Portal, California Environmental Health Tracking Program, LAFCO, and individual suppliers (California Water Service Company, Golden State Water Company, Suburban Water Systems, Park Water Company, City of Azusa, City of Torrance, City of Downey, and Foothill MWD)

Fig. 3

Source: SWRCB 2015 per capita use database

Fig. 4

Source: SWRCB 2015 per capita use database, QGIS Geometry functions, and calculations by the authors

Fig. 5

Source: each individual water purveyor’s website

Fig. 6

Source: data derived from 2010 Urban Water Management Plans (UWMPs) and the L.A. County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO)

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barnett TP, Adam JC, Lettenmaier DP (2005) Potential impacts of a warming climate on water availability in snow-dominated regions. Nature 438:303–309. doi:10.1038/nature04141

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Besley T, Coate S (2003) Centralized versus decentralized provision of local public goods: a political economy approach. J Public Econ 87:2611–2637. doi:10.1016/S0047-2727(02)00141-X

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blomquist WA (1992) Dividing the waters: governing groundwater in Southern California. ICS Press, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Bollens JC (1957) Special District Governments in the United States. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Capistrano Taxpayers Association, Inc., Plaintiff and Respondent, v. City of San Juan Capistrano, Defendant and Appellant (2015). Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 3, California, G048969

  • DeShazo JR, McCann H (2015) Los Angeles County Community Water Systems: Atlas and Policy Guide, vol I. In: Supply Vulnerabilities, At-Risk Populations, Opportunities for Conservation. Luskin Center for Innovation, UCLA, Los Angeles

  • Dudek (2006) Municipal service review. Water Service-Los Angeles Region, Encinitas

    Google Scholar 

  • Erie SP (2006) Beyond Chinatown: the metropolitan water district, growth, and the environment in Southern California. Stanford University Press, Stanford

    Google Scholar 

  • Felock R, Clingermayer JC, Stream C, et al (2001) Political conflict, fiscal stress, and administrative turnover in American cities. State Local Gov Rev, pp 101–108

  • Foster SSD, Morris BL, Lawrence A (1997) Groundwater impacts and issues in development cities- An introductory review. In: Chilton PJ (ed) Groundwater in the Urban Environment, vol 1. Problems, processes and management: proceedings of the XXVII IAH Conference, Nottingham, 21–27 September 1997, pp 85–90

  • Garfin G, Jardine A, Merideth R, Black M, Overpeck J (eds) (2013) Assessment of climate change in the Southwest United States: a technical report prepared for the U.S. National Climate Assessment. A report by the Southwest Climate Alliance 2013. Island Press, Washington, DC

  • Graham S, Marvin S (2001) Splintering urbanism: networked infrastructures, technological mobilities and the urban condition. Routledge, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Green D (2007) Managing water: avoiding crisis in California. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamlet AF, Mote PW, Clark MP, Lettenmaier DP (2005) Effects of temperature and precipitation variability on Snowpack Trends in the Western United States*. J Clim 18:4545–4561. doi:10.1175/JCLI3538.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanak E, Lund JR (2011) Adapting California’s water management to climate change. Clim Change 111:17–44. doi:10.1007/s10584-011-0241-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanak E, Gray B, Lund J et al (2014) Paying for Water in California. Public Policy Institute of California, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Harnish CP (1976) Southern California Water Company History: 1928 to 1974. Southern California Water Company, Los Angeles

    Google Scholar 

  • Hundley N (1992) The great thirst: Californians and water: a history. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Los Angeles County Department of Public Works (LACDPW) (2008–2009) Los Angeles county water purveyor service areas. Los Angeles County Department of Public Works Hydrologic report, Water Resources Division

  • Los Angeles County Department of Public Works (LACDPW) (2011–2012) Los Angeles County groundwater basin shape files. Los Angeles County Department of Public Works Hydrologic report, Water Resources Division

  • Little Hoover Commission (2000) Special districts: relics of the past or resources for the future

  • Lubell M (2015) Collaborative partnerships in complex institutional systems. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 12:41–47. doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2014.08.011

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lubell M, Lippert L (2011) Integrated regional water management: a study of collaboration or water politics-as-usual in California, USA. Int Rev Adm Sci 77:76–100. doi:10.1177/0020852310388367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marks G, Hooghe L (2003) National identity and support for European integration, Working Paper, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, Berlin

  • Medellín-Azuara J, Harou JJ, Olivares MA et al (2008) Adaptability and adaptations of California’s water supply system to dry climate warming. Clim Change 87:75–90. doi:10.1007/s10584-007-9355-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mote PW (2006) Climate-driven variability and trends in Mountain Snowpack in Western North America*. J Clim 19:6209–6220. doi:10.1175/JCLI3971.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mote PW, Hamlet AF, Clark MP, Lettenmaier DP (2005) Declining Mountain Snowpack in Western North America. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 86:39–49. doi:10.1175/BAMS-86-1-39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mullin M (2008) The conditional effect of specialized governance on public policy: conditional effect of specialized governance. Am J Polit Sci 52:125–141. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5907.2007.00303.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mullin M (2009) Governing the tap: special district governance and the new local politics of water. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • MWD (2013) Annual report, 2012–2013. Metropolitan water district of Southern California, Los Angeles

    Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom E (1965) Public Entrepreneurship: A Case Study in Ground Water Basin Management. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles

  • Palmer MA, Lettenmaier DP, Poff NL et al (2009) Climate change and river ecosystems: protection and adaptation options. Environ Manage 44:1053–1068. doi:10.1007/s00267-009-9329-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perrenod VM (1984) Special districts, special purposes: Fringe governments and urban problems in the Houston area. Texas A&M University Press, College Station

    Google Scholar 

  • Pincetl S (1999) Transforming California, a political history of land use in the state. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Pisani DJ (1992) To reclaim a divided west. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque

    Google Scholar 

  • Porse E, Glickfeld M, Mertan K, Pincetl S (2015) Pumping for the masses: evolution of groundwater management in metropolitan Los Angeles. GeoJournal. doi:10.1007/s10708-015-9664-0

    Google Scholar 

  • QGIS Development Team (2014) QGIS geographic information system. Open source geospatial foundation project

  • Senate Local Government Committee (2010) What’s so special about special districts? A citizen’s guide to special districts in California. Senate Local Government Committee, Sacramento

    Google Scholar 

  • SGVMWD (2013) 2012 annual report. San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District, Azusa

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart IT, Cayan DR, Dettinger MD (2005) Changes toward earlier Streamflow Timing across Western North America. J Clim 18:1136–1155. doi:10.1175/JCLI3321.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wlezien C (2004) Patterns of representation: dynamics of public preferences and policy. J Polit 66:1–24. doi:10.1046/j.1468-2508.2004.00139.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This research was possible due to NSF WSC 1204235.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. California Center for Sustainable Communities, Institute of the Environment, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA

    Stephanie Pincetl & Erik Porse

  2. Social Science Research Council, New York, USA

    Deborah Cheng

Authors
  1. Stephanie Pincetl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Erik Porse
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Deborah Cheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephanie Pincetl.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pincetl, S., Porse, E. & Cheng, D. Fragmented Flows: Water Supply in Los Angeles County. Environmental Management 58, 208–222 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-016-0707-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-016-0707-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation