By Gregory Pierce and Kyra Gmoser-Daskalakis
According to California law, water is a human right. And our research on water systems shows that compared to other parts of the state, the systems in Los Angeles County are doing a pretty good job ensuring safe, plentiful, affordable water for its citizens.
But it’s a different story in the Antelope Valley. The valley is home to about 5% of Los Angeles County residents, but reports 80% of its major water quality problems. And as the climate continues to change, stresses on water systems will only increase.
In our new report — Community Water Systems in Los Angeles County: A Performance Policy Guide — we evaluated data on the over 200 water systems serving county residents. We also compared that information to findings reported in the 2015 water atlas, which like our report was published by UCLA’s Luskin Center for Innovation.
The Antelope Valley stood out. In sharp contrast to the rest of the county, over four-fifths of the valley’s water systems are small, serving fewer than 3,000 households. This includes tiny water systems that serve mobile home parks and RV parks, as well as mutual water companies.
In general — and not just in California — smaller water providers don’t have as many resources as larger water systems. In addition to limited financial resources, they tend to suffer from a lack of technical and managerial expertise. This makes water-quality and quantity problems more likely to occur, and solutions more difficult to implement.
From 2014 to 2018 — the five years we studied for our report — Los Angeles County water systems notched 131 violations for exceeding maximum safe levels for contaminants such as arsenic, coliform bacteria, and nitrates. Of those 131 drinking-water violations, 110 were in the Antelope Valley. And six Antelope Valley water providers had more than 10 violations each in the last five years.
These contamination spikes mean residents can’t rely on their tap water to be safe. In Los Angeles County, most of the violations are for arsenic, which occurs naturally in the ground, and which is linked to cancer and other severe health problems. A large, well-run water system tends to have a greater capacity to treat drinking water in a way that effectively removes arsenic. Smaller systems can have a tougher time of it.
Climate change is expected to make providing abundant clean water even harder. With less rain and hotter weather, we need more water, and as rivers and reservoirs run low, groundwater often fills the gap. But as water systems pump deeper, the quality of the water is lower. And over-pumping groundwater can collapse underground reservoirs, which can aggravate supply problems, as we have already seen in the valley.
There’s no one silver bullet that can completely resolve the Antelope Valley’s water issues. But there are some options for improving water quality and supply for the residents of the valley and the rest of California.
One option is consolidation. Larger water systems that are performing well should extend service to places where smaller water providers are having trouble. Our analysis shows there’s some potential for consolidation in the Antelope Valley.
Where consolidation doesn’t make sense — such as where water systems are too far apart, for example — allowing small systems to pool their financial resources and share management could result in safer, more abundant drinking water. Other possible solutions include state funding targeted at upgrading small water systems’ treatment facilities and capacity, and closer monitoring of small water systems by the county or the state.
While most Californians can rely on safe drinking water most of the time, residents of the Antelope Valley bear much more than their fair share of Los Angeles County’s water problems. We hope our report and the solutions it suggests will bring us closer to the day when every Californian can enjoy safe, affordable, accessible drinking water, every day of the year, no matter where they live.
About the authors: Gregory Pierce is the associate director of UCLA’s Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) and serves as a senior researcher, leading LCI’s Water and Environmental Equity programs. Kyra Gmoser-Daskalakis is a researcher and associate project manager at LCI.
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H2O says
Why don’t they just have residents of California move away so they can use all the water for agriculture and ship the produce out-of-state while residents have to cut back more and more till they can’t cut back any more?
Flood rice fiels in the Central Valley to ship to Japan, South Korean and Taiwan while the first 2 ship cars here. Who thought that was a good idea? We can make cars here.
Maybe we can ship the sand off our beaches to the Middle East while we’re at it…..to build islands in Dubai.
Laughing says
The American consumer thought it was a good idea. They wanted less expensive cars with better mileage and features. Now trying to explain why over priced German made cars are so popular is anyones guess. I would pick on English cars but most are controlled by India now.
I do not mind water used for ag, just wish ag would use less toxins so the water was drinkable afterwards.
But hey, now we can save forests by using water bidets!
H2O says
As for ag using most of the water, it’s like simply shipping our water out of state only in produce.
Since residential use is a small percentage, homeowners can stop using water altogether and it won’t make much difference as long as they’re flooding rice fields and using a gallon to grow 1 almond.
Thisk about that the next time you have to flush twice.
Eddie says
Maybe not let dogs go in the water
Laughing says
Someone is letting their dogs go down narrow little well pump pipes?
Tony Morse says
I have heard they are looking at consolidating all Water Agencies. Any timeline yet?
David Hunter says
You will never know till it’s done. The local paper has sold out to Lancaster years ago. The reporters do minimal research and only print what they are told. This mode has run it’s course and we are inventing the replacement for newspapers as we text. Save a lot of advertisement dollars that small buisness see going down the drain with limited results. End of a era!
Mark says
I respect your research and we definitely need more concern for our beloved filming location/arms manufacturing hub, but for the price of a Little Caesar’s Cheeser! Cheeser! Pizza! I could have told you–in 2008–that sometimes the tap water smells like corpse-laden sewagey shit and you should drink it sparingly.
Cynic says
Nice Op-Ed. It’s interesting that this free site is starting to get better local coverage than the AVPress.
On a side note, what can be done to formally legalize bicycles on the aqueduct. So many people ride up there, especially in hotspots like Highland High School to Godde Hill. Considering we live in a valley with almost non-existent bike infrastructure, it would be nice to have riding on the aqueduct be formally legalized.
Voter says
Maybe if we had better leadership at places like AVEK and the Palmdale Water District we would be in better shape. Both are Rex controlled boards, with Rex’s little brother Rob heading up AVEK.
It’s way past time to get control of this valley out of the greedy hands and incompetent thinking of R. Rex Parris. He should bring his leadership and ideas to his hometown of Laguna.