WSC-Category 3: Collaborative: The role of local water resources in the water sustainability of Los Angeles

像许多半干旱地区的城市一样，洛杉矶的供水依赖于广泛的集中式再分配项目。水被运输数百公里以支持南加州的农业和城市活动；然而，由于干旱、过度开采和相互竞争的水需求，来自偏远来源的水分配一直在减少。地方政府和水区越来越依赖南加州沿海地区的当地水源，包括当地地下水、雨水收集、保护措施和再生水源。然而，这些资源是由一组复杂的机构和水区管理的，这些机构和水区的结构、历史和优先事项不同，但它们往往获得相似的水资源。此外，不同水管理机构的管辖范围很少对应于分水岭和其他水文边界，因此，社会政治系统的连通性和生态水文系统的连通性构成了一套非常复杂的水管理网络。本项目将侧重于了解决定南加州当地水资源可获得性的生态水文学和决策过程，目标是解决以下问题：1)当地地下水、废水和雨水管理的当前结构是什么？2)当地地下水和雨水资源的生态水文学约束是什么？3)区域水平衡是什么？4)生态水文学和决策领域之间有什么重叠和脱节？5)考虑到我们对生物物理、技术、政治和财政约束的理解，什么是可行的保护目标？6)这些是如何受到未来气候变化情景影响的？为了解决这些问题，该项目将利用来自以前研究的大量现有数据集以及公用事业和机构数据，以：对当地水平衡和地下水流动进行建模；分析当地水管理机构的结构；比较和对比生态水文学和政治边界以及对当地水资源的限制；评估当地水系统的生态水文学和决策部分对气候、财政紧缩和土地利用变化的脆弱性；并利用建模和决策工具来评估建议的最佳实践。该项目解决了该地区水资源可持续性的最关键问题，其中许多涉及减少南加州对进口水的依赖。为此，必须分析水系统的自然组成部分和人类组成部分之间的联系和不匹配。该项目将直接评估当地机构和非政府组织目前用来规划地下水渗透项目的决策工具。它还将把研究数据集与其他公共和公开发布的当地信息整合在一起，包括用水量和最终用途、室外景观和特定物种的用水情况，以及洛杉矶最佳管理实践(BMP)的当前信息。将根据体制和政治制约因素对这些问题进行评估，如对维护现有基础设施的阻力(由于费用)和为新举措提供资金。利益攸关方将直接参与会议和公开可用的数据存储库。利益攸关方合作伙伴将组成一个技术咨询委员会，为当地应用程序提供可用的数据产品方面的投入。将与学生和一名博士后研究员合作，开发一个关于项目数据集和成果的中央网站，并将提供符合技术咨询委员会需要的数据服务，包括报告和综合分析。该项目将吸引当地高中生、本科生和研究生以及参与机构的K-12教师培训活动和当地非政府组织的外联活动。通过与当地草根组织Urban Semillas的分包合同，该项目将把研究结果纳入“阿瓜大学”，这是一个为洛杉矶服务不足的少数族裔高中生提供的项目。最后，该项目将与非营利性组织TreePeople合作，加强他们的宣传和教育设施，重点是水的渗透、保护和质量。

Like many cities in semi-arid regions, Los Angeles relies on extensive, centralized redistribution projects for its water supply. Water is transported hundreds of kilometers to support agricultural and urban activities in southern California; however, allocations from remote sources have been declining due to drought, over-extractions, and competing water needs. Increasingly, local governments and water districts are relying on local water sources within the southern California coastal areas including local groundwater, rainwater capture, conservation measures, and recycled water sources. Yet, these resources are managed by a complex set of agencies and water districts with different structures, histories, and priorities, but which often access similar water resources. In addition, the jurisdictions of different water management institutions rarely correspond to watershed and other hydrologic boundaries, such that the connectivities of the socio-political system and the connectivities of the ecohydrologic system present a set of very complex networks for water management. This project will focus on understanding the coupled ecohydrologic and decision-making processes that determine the availability of local water resources in southern California, with the goal of addressing the questions 1) What is the current structure of local groundwater, wastewater, and stormwater management? 2) What are the ecohydrologic constraints on local groundwater and rainwater resources? 3) What is the regional water balance? 4) What are the overlaps and disconnects between the ecohydrologic and decision-making domains? 5) What are feasible targets for conservation given our understanding of biophysical, technological, political, and fiscal constraints? 6) How are these impacted by scenarios of future climate change? To address these issues, this project will draw on extensive existing datasets from previous research as well as public utility and agency data to: model the local water balance and groundwater flows; analyze the structure of local water management institutions; compare and contrast the ecohydrologic and political boundaries and constraints on local water resources; evaluate the vulnerabilities of the ecohydrologic and decision-making components of the local water system to climate, fiscal austerity and land use change; and utilize modeling and decision-making tools to evaluate proposed best practices.This project addresses the most critical issues for water sustainability in the region, many of which involve decreasing southern California's reliance on imported water. To do this, the linkages and mismatches between the natural and human components of the water system must be analyzed. The project will directly evaluate the decision-making tools currently used by local agencies and NGOs to plan groundwater infiltration projects. It will also integrate research datasets with other public and published local information about water consumption and end uses, outdoor landscaping and species specific water use, and current information about best management practices (BMPs) for Los Angeles. These will be evaluated relative to institutional and political constraints such as resistance to maintaining existing infrastructure (due to costs) and funding new initiatives. There will be stakeholder involvement in direct meetings and in a publicly available data repository. Stakeholder partners will form a Technical Advisory Board to provide input on usable data products for local applications. In collaboration with students and a post-doctoral researcher, a central website for project datasets and results will be developed, and data services that are responsive to the needs of the Technical Advisory Board will be provided, including reports and synthetic analyses. The project will engage local students at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels as well as in K-12 teacher training activities at the participating institutions and outreach activities of local NGOs. Through a subcontract with the local grassroots organization Urban Semillas, the project will incorporate the results of the research into "Agua University," a program for underserved and minority high school students in Los Angeles. Finally, the project will partner with the non-profit organization TreePeople to enhance their outreach and education facility focused on water infiltration, conservation, and quality.