News release: Water, fire, and finance — building more resilient systems
The January 2025 fires in Los Angeles County exposed a critical gap: water systems were never designed to fight large-scale wildfires. As fire risks intensify, communities are asking what the role of water systems should be in extreme events moving forward and how these systems can remain reliable, affordable, and resilient. On January 23, 2026, the UCLA and UC ANR Urban Water Supply + Fire working group — organized by the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge, Luskin Center for Innovation, and the California Institute for Water Resources — convened 54 experts to examine a critical and underexplored issue: how to finance water systems as fire risks change and intensify. The workshop organizers have just released a report, Water Supply Systems, Fire, and Finance, synthesizing key insights from the convening.
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