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Panelists call for more and earlier collaboration across regulatory agencies and impacted communities to address California’s water infrastructure challenges.

On April 14, 2023, the Water Infrastructure Networking Summit (WINS) brought together more than 250 local, regional, and state water officials, and business and community leaders from Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego County to discuss funding opportunities and challenges facing water and wastewater infrastructure.

Agencies Must “Row in the Same Direction”

Former Los Angeles Mayor and current Infrastructure Advisor for California, Antonio Villaraigosa served as the keynote speaker and set the tone for the day, highlighting his experience advancing infrastructure projects in Los Angeles and beyond.

“Get everybody in the region that’s impacted by this together and now you’re talking about a formidable coalition,” Villaraigosa said. “That’s why the seeds of what you’re doing here are so important. You’re not going to do it with San Diego by themselves, Orange County by themselves or even LA County by itself. When you all go in together, you can all get more resources.”

Mega Panel Highlights Climate Emergency, CEQA, and Need for Streamlining and Collaboration

Following Villaraigosa’s remarks, a mega-panel of 14 regional leaders and water policy experts from throughout the state engaged in a vibrant discussion about water and how to use this crisis moment in California to make progress.

Joone Kim-Lopez, General Manager & CEO of Moulton Niguel Water District, skillfully moderated the panel and began the discussion with a lightning round on the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

“I think what we’re going to hear from all panelists today is we need to streamline the process, we need to bring projects online sooner, General Manager of Orange County Water District, Mike Markus said. “If we could have some sort of reform on CEQA, particularly on the legal end, that would be helpful, but we must do what’s right for the environment. Unfortunately, CEQA has been used as a weapon to defeat some projects that people don’t like.” 

Several panelists emphasized that proposed CEQA reforms often attempt to gut environmental protections. Acknowledging some of CEQA’s downsides, they emphasized that CEQA alone is not to blame for the challenges facing water infrastructure in the state.

“It’s not all about CEQA,” General Counsel for California State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, Alf Brandt said. “It’s about breaking down barriers and building more collaboration so that it’s not just one agency by one agency, but all of us working together.”

There was widespread agreement for the need to streamline permitting processes and increase communication across agencies and departments to help speed up projects.

“We are one state – there needs to be more collaboration and more sharing, both physical and intellectual capital to make the system work,” General Manager for the San Diego County Water Authority, Sandra Kerl said. “Yes, we are divided by jurisdictions, but we can’t be on this issue and I think that’s where the solution lies.”

“The other thing that gets in the way of projects a lot of the time is permitting,” Senior Assistant General Manager, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Anselmo Collins said. “Especially with the lofty goals we all have – relaying clean, reliable water to all of our customers – we need a better way to get permitting done faster. And it needs to be concurrent permitting as opposed to sequential. But it starts with dialogue.”

Early Engagement on New Projects Key in Gaining and Advancing Project Support

Toward the end of the nearly two-hour panel conversation, the focus turned to the importance of early engagement in the community to create greater buy-in and avoid costly delays.

“It’s not just about educating the public and these community groups about the work you’re doing, it’s about listening to what they’re experiencing in their communities,” CEO of Heal the Bay, Tracy Quinn said. “If you want to avoid litigation, if you want to avoid public campaigns against your project, go into communities early on before you’ve built the project.” Quinn is also a board member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Panelists also acknowledged the current crisis facing the state’s water resources and agreed that now is not the time to take their foot off the gas.

“Coming out of this drought, I’ve seen unbelievable things come to fruition,” Chair of the California Water Commission, Matthew Swanson said. “The timing could be right politically to move the ball down the field.”

As part of his comments, Swanson also gave on update on the major water storage projects getting ready to receive their final award hearing in the months to come.

“The purpose of this panel discussion was to visually demonstrate and show the agreement we can reach when you put everyone together and in a little bit of a spotlight,” Kim-Lopez said.

The tri-county Summit was organized by eight Founding Sponsors, Moulton Niguel Water District, Orange County Water District, San Diego County Water Authority, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, California Forward, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, Brownstein, and Cordoba Corporation. In addition, there were also 18 co-hosting agencies that helped sponsor the event: Yorba Linda Water District, South Coast Water District, Santa Margarita Water District, Municipal Water District of Orange County, Irvine Ranch Water District, Southern California Water Coalition, Building Industry Association of Southern California, Arcadis, Brady, Tetra Tech, Black & Veatch, Dudek, McCarthy, BizFed, Orange County Realtors, Frost, Brown, Todd, Alvarado, Smith, Faubel Public Affairs, and Best Best & Krieger.

For additional information about the Water Infrastructure Networking Summit, please visit mnwd.com/wins.