How long have you been involved in the water sector and in the One Water movement specifically?

I’ve been working in the water industry for twenty years, eighteen of which were in the public sector. I started working in the One Water arena back in 2007 when the City of Los Angeles had just adopted its trailblazing water Integrated Resources Plan (IRP). The IRP essentially represented L.A.’s early One Water thinking; it was a stakeholder-driven and watershed-based plan that arrived at project and policy recommendations to improve water management toward the year 2020. I was extremely lucky to follow in the footsteps of great leaders and visionaries whose work had laid the foundation for interagency collaboration and community engagement. Fast forward a few years into IRP implementation, the team started building on lessons learned from this One Water process and brainstorming ideas to address a growing number of challenges, such as aging infrastructure, more stringent total maximum daily load regulations, and limited funding. Compounding such challenges, climate change was quickly emerging as a larger than anticipated and imminent risk. California was beginning to experience a historic multi-year drought (2012-2016) and back then, L.A. was importing about 80 percent of its water supply. The City of L.A. started adopting a series of emergency drought response measures. At this time, One Water was still considered a fairly new but promising concept in our industry.

To the L.A. team, adopting the One Water concept and terminology presented an opportunity to build on the IRP success to address compounding challenges by taking an even more holistic look at the systems we were planning for. Because of the historic drought and increased public awareness about L.A.’s water supply, embarking on a One Water planning process also represented a tremendous opportunity to bring in and engage a broad and diverse public stakeholder group. This engagement became fundamental to the success of the strategies developed, including maximizing water reuse from L.A.’s largest water reclamation plant and prioritizing investment in multi-beneficial projects and green infrastructure. One Water LA was born in the early days of a national One Water movement, and I’m proud to have been part of that movement ever since.

What has been the biggest change in the One Water movement during this time?

I think the concept of One Water has always entailed recognizing and harnessing the value of water to achieve social, economic, and environmental benefits. Throughout the years, however, as the understanding of that concept has grown, I believe the practice and application of it have broadened. The water sector has recognized the scalability and adaptability of One Water principles — valuing all water, prioritizing partnerships and inclusion, and achieving mutual benefits for our communities, industry needs, and the environment. While ten years ago, many in the industry may have interpreted One Water as equal to developing integrated resources plans and multi-beneficial projects, over the years, the practice of One Water has expanded as the industry has recognized the benefits of applying One Water principles in all aspects of the systems we plan for. That is, it’s not just about planning. It’s about connecting efforts, people, resources, practices, and policies with the goal of increasing economic, environmental, and societal benefits.

This evolution of broadening what One Water can mean for our industry has meant that, while the development of One Water Plans has significantly increased, there are many other indicators that demonstrate an organization’s embrace of One Water thinking. Starting with a One Water vision, many organizations have implemented early aligned actions such as developing low-hanging-fruit policy and practice changes, pursuing demonstration partnership projects, early and ongoing stakeholder engagement, increased data coordination, and new funding approaches, among others. Cumulatively, these actions translate to significant headway toward an integrated One Water model. The value of such a model includes:

• Cost savings

• Community benefits/placemaking

• Increased public understanding of and advocacy for the value of water

• Agency-wide organizational change

• Updated policies, codes, and standards

• Organization/agency alignment with community needs

• Innovative financial and project delivery strategies
  

What are the main challenges faced by those in the One Water movement today?

I’ll start with the greatest opportunity. As One Water practitioners, building on the tremendous progress of the movement presents an opportunity to think bigger. To me, this means moving beyond water sector boundaries, broadening the application of One Water thinking, forging cross-sector partnerships, and making the connection between the water sector and efforts taking place in other sectors (energy, food, agriculture, urban and land use planning, health, etc.). These sectors face common challenges and are all moving relatively fast toward embracing innovative technologies and practices. It is on us, as One Water practitioners, to further collaboration and leverage connecting efforts and resources.

That brings me to our greatest challenge: as humans and as water professionals, it is our responsibility to recognize the impacts of our actions on the communities we are part of and serve. The greatest challenge in moving fast toward addressing current and imminent risks (mainly the climate emergency) is to ensure that we don’t leave anyone behind — meaning historically underserved and disadvantaged communities.

This challenge is not insurmountable, but overcoming it involves significant changes to existing policies and practices. For example, as neighborhood greening, nature-based solutions, and green infrastructure become more prominent and result in tremendous community benefits (improved air quality, habitat restoration, heat island effect reduction, increased recreational spaces, etc.), we must consider and address the unintended consequences of these solutions. Data shows that greening cities/neighborhoods leads to increased property values, which drive displacement and gentrification. We must all lead in embedding equity into the water sector by prioritizing meaningful engagement of communities, working together and across sectors (with housing agencies, land use planners, and others) to craft coordinated, equitable policies, regulations, and practices, and developing and utilizing mechanisms and tools that enable measurement of equitable outcomes. Many community-based organizations and individuals are working on effecting change in their communities. Connecting and building relationships with these organizations and individuals is an important first step water professionals must take in advancing equity.

Looking ahead, what future factor or factors do you think will have the greatest effect on One Water approaches in the next three to five years?

The main factor is very much here today: the climate emergency. The urgency for action to address this emergency is the single most significant factor that will accelerate the One Water movement. One Water principles are key to water sustainability, and sustainable water management is at the core of climate action. Water professionals are keenly aware of this inextricable connection and driven by it to innovate technical solutions and practices that have already resulted in major advances in the water industry. The industry has made tremendous progress in water reuse and conservation, stormwater capture, pollution prevention and treatment, nature-based solutions, and habitat restoration. Within the next three to five years, that progress will need to be accelerated. Technologies will be scaled at a faster pace, partnerships will be at the core of most water projects, and creative funding structures will need to become the norm. At the core of effecting quick change is the modification of laws and regulations to enable cost-sharing and financing, cross-sector partnerships, and technology transfers at both the small-scale (between communities and agencies) and large-scale (between jurisdictions and governments). One Water principles and thinking touch on all key aspects of these transformational actions.

If you could wave a magic wand and change anything about the One Water movement, what would it be and why?

Over the last decade the progress in applying One Water approaches has been significant and impressive. The One Water movement is evident in industry conversations, projects, programs, and policies, all of which are incredibly motivating! If I could wave a magic wand, it would be to accelerate that progress. This movement is about people, water, and nature, and that should resonate and spark action beyond the water sector and across industries.