“Agencies like MWD and DWP are really working on our transparency and trying to bring in different voices into our processes… I think it’s important as we need to build trust in what we’re doing and the investments we need to make locally. I do think holding us accountable and demanding transparency is going to help us move forward.” –Liz Crosson, Sustainability, Resilience and Innovation Officer, Metropolitan Water District

Welcome to the year-long Water Learning Series: Los Angeles. Throughout 2024, we are hosting 11 conversations with organizations, community projects, tribal organizations, activists, organizers, and leaders from LA and places impacted by LA’s water story.

We are joined in Session Seven by two of the most significant and powerful institutions in Los Angeles’s water story: Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). Our guests, David Pettijohn, Director of Water Resources at LADWP and Liz Crosson, Sustainability, Resilience and Innovation Officer at MWD, offer a comprehensive and historical look at how these agencies became foundational in the growth and development of Southern California and remain central in the importation of LA’s water from hundreds of miles away. They share background about the LADWP constructing the Los Angeles Aqueduct at the turn of the 20th century to import water from Owen’s Valley/Payahuunadü and the formation of Metropolitan Water District of Southern California in 1940 to further supplement water sources through constructing the Colorado River Aqueduct and the California State Water Project which imports water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The guests also discuss forward-looking initiatives responding to climate change. Both LADWP and MWD are diversifying their water supplies to decrease dependency on the aqueduct system which is being severely impacted by droughts and other climate-related conditions. David, from LADWP, talks about long-range programs in the City of Los Angeles to develop local water sources through groundwater clean-up and recharge, stormwater capture, conservation, recycling water, and water efficiency programs that incentivize homeowners to install water saving devices. Liz, from MWD, discusses the necessities of building trust, accountability, and collaboration with the communities in the 26 municipalities that MWD serves as a way of investing in the future. The conversation also includes a discussion about Owen’s Valley/Payahuunadü. Adam Perez, the LADWP Deputy Manager of the Aqueduct for the Water Operations Division, joins the conversation talking about LADWP’s commitments to working with the tribes in Owens Valley, environmental restoration projects, and ensuring that residents in Owen’s Valley/Payahuunadü have their needs met before the water is exported to Los Angeles.

Hosted by: Kate Bunney

Produced & Edited by: Anne Carol Mitchell

Intro music by: Mamuse 'River Run Free' - featuring Walter Strauss

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