Los Angeles and Southern California infrastructure agencies are poised to set precedents in advancing water projects in one of the nation’s largest and most drought-stricken metro areas, with ongoing efforts that include an innovative ocean-based water desalination plant, officials told ENR LA Infrastructure. Forum on November 18.
With the impending 2028 Olympics also expected to boost the region’s transportation capabilities, officials are looking to secure public funding and contractor support for the construction mission, including small and diverse businesses and a skilled workforce , technical and management to execute it.
As recent election results indicate the federal government will see a shift in funding policies and priorities, “We have a lot of federal grants right now that we’re working to protect, [by ensuring] that we have agreements finalized and money secured, and that we can move forward with those dollars to carry out the many projects we have,” LA County Supervisor Holly Mitchell said at the conference, sponsored by ENR and group of regional agencies InfrastructureLA. “All municipalities are looking to the federal government for help with infrastructure, so I hope members of Congress understand that this is the expectation of their constituents. Infrastructure should not be a partisan issue.”
The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District in LA County is exploring the use of an ocean-based desalination process as an alternative to a more energy-intensive land-based system to increase its water supply water
Representation courtesy of OceanWell
Water management goes to the source
Calling California “one of the states most affected by climate change in the country,” Eric Tsai, the State Department’s supervising engineer for Water Resources, told attendees that the state’s snowpack, “its largest natural reservoir, it’s melting faster and earlier than ever.” He also noted the increasing obsolescence of water system infrastructure across the state and the more frequent impacts on overburdened communities.
LA County Public Works Director Mark Pestrella gave an update on the joint effort between LA City and LA County to develop a new water distribution program to serve the 200 water agencies in the region, spread over an area of 4,000 square miles with 89 municipalities. “The plan comes at a critical time, because we are experiencing more frequent intense wildfires, extreme heat, prolonged drought and less reliable imported water from faraway places,” he said.
Another challenge for the water supply is sediment management, with the build-up “which is just choking the regional groundwater basins that feed our water system,” Pestrella noted, adding that watersheds not they can “recover as quickly as they normally do.” The county is spending more than half a million dollars to move 19 million cubic yards of sediment from reservoirs that supply a third of its drinking water supply, he said.
The action also targets the county’s growing number of failing water systems, with 67 at risk of reaching that point, affecting an estimated 800,000 customers, many in underserved communities, Pestrella said.
To reduce the number to zero, the county is launching a regional support program to provide financial, technical and management guidance, water quality monitoring and a public alert system. The plan aims to increase water supply by 600,000 acre-ft per year over the next two decades, including capturing 300,000 acre-ft per year of new stormwater supply. “That means a lot of coordinated construction between agencies,” Pestrella said. “Progress will be tracked on a dashboard and we are developing two-year action plans to keep us accountable and on track.”
Despite having three major water aqueducts that have served Los Angeles for decades, a persistent drought in 2022 “really told us that we needed to step up even more,” said Anselmo Collins, the system’s senior assistant general manager. LA department water. Water and energy. This includes increasing seismic resilience as all supply lines cross the San Andreas Fault. “It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when,” he said.
The agency is also partnering with LA County Sanitation Districts to increase local water supplies with recent approval to begin work on the $740 million Wastewater Effluent Recycling and Purification Program dollars and 25 million gal per day at the Donald C. Tillman recovery plant that will support the San Fernando Valley and includes $400 million in public funding.
Further afield is a plan to recycle 210 million gallons per day over the next two decades at Hyperion’s giant reclamation plant near LA International Airport for both indirect and direct potable reuse, depending on the levels of treatment, Collins said. He called it “a game changer for us.”
As the smallest regional water user, David Pedersen, director of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, said its supply was cut by 74 percent during the 2022 drought, with little local groundwater to draw on. The district recently tied up with the California-based desalination technology company OceanWell to develop what would be the first offshore water production plant in the US, located several miles offshore in waters 1,400 feet deep. Consultant Stantec also supports the project.
The plant’s reverse osmosis process will produce up to 10 million gallons of fresh water per day through pods located near the ocean floor, which would use water pressure at that depth as a source of energy to reduce its energy use by up to 40%, reduce brine production and reduce salty byproducts that threaten marine life, company officials told the media.
The process borrows technology from the oil industry, Pedersen said, adding that OceanWell will start a pilot project in January at the district’s 120-foot-deep Westlake Village Reservoir. “We’ll be doing a whole range of tests, looking to the future,” he said. “The technology still needs more research.”
Who does the work?
Related to project procurement and project execution, Los Angeles Deputy Mayor for Infrastructure Randall Winston noted the collaboration between city and regional agencies to “cut red tape” in procurement through efforts such as the “unbundling” of contracts and more “reciprocity” of small business certification between regional agencies, municipalities and other infrastructure owners.
Director Kelly LoBianco, who pointed to about a million small and diverse businesses in the L.A. County Department of Economic Opportunity database, said the potential for public sector hiring “can be opaque and out of reach for many with burdensome processes and requirements that make it easier for agencies, but harder for applicants.”
Joining other regional and state officials last year at the inaugural LA Infrastructure Forum to pledge to boost hiring diversity. LoBianco said the county has “increased the number of certified businesses by more than 15 percent and “there’s a lot more we can do in a myriad of certifications in the region.” Another point of progress is a new program of bonding at no cost to businesses, a partnership with Merriwether & Williams Insurance Services to “build the capacity of our small businesses and nonprofits to contract with the county,” he added.
Emphasizing the need for further investment in the development of “human infrastructure”, Lobianco said the region’s five million workers represent “a large and scalable talent pool”.
Noting more than 450,000 members statewide and the support of more than 15 pre-apprenticeship programs, Jeremy Smith, state construction trades council chief of staff and director of workforce development, say: “Jobs must be careers and we must maintain these public investments. so that workers can travel through apprenticeship programs and become travel managers.”
LA County Economic Development Corp. CEO Stephen Cheung emphasized the need for infrastructure owners and contractors to use the nonprofit’s economic research, which focuses on business assistance, development of the workforce, participation and international trade. “How do we empower small and medium-sized businesses, especially those with diverse ownership that have never had the opportunity to be part of the supply chain?”
Salvatrice Cummo, vice president of economic and workforce development at Pasadena City College, noted the role of the state’s community college system in ensuring that the next generation of workers is aligned with the needs of competitive industry sectors, “whether they’re young workers, displaced workers or just people.” looking to improve skills.” He said school research says LA County’s population would drop from 10.2 million to 9.5 million by 2034.
Support for the upcoming LA Olympics and Paralympics and other major events will be a big labor draw, said Erikk Aldridge, vice president of engagement for its organizer, LA28. “In Paris, they mapped 181,000 games-related jobs. We’re going to have the biggest games in Olympic history.”
LoBianco added that “with LA28 and these infrastructure dollars, it’s a great, great time to get everything we’ve always wanted in place by then.”
