Achieving Equity in Stormwater Investments in the Safe, Clean Water Program in Los Angeles County, California

Achieving Equity in Stormwater Investments in the Safe, Clean Water Program in Los Angeles County, CaliforniaAbstractThe Equity in Stormwater Investments: Measuring Community Engagement and Disadvantaged Community Benefits for Equitable Impact in the Safe, Clean Water Program white paper, developed for the Los Angeles County Flood Control District, provides examples and makes recommendations for multi-benefit stormwater management programs seeking to support community-led planning in marginalized and low-income communities. The Safe, Clean Water Program (Program, or SCWP) is representative of a shift that reveals how voters are prepared to invest in multibenefit improvements that prioritize equity. Embedded at the core of the Program is a recognition of past environmental injustices, and represented throughout its policies is a deliberate commitment to achieving equitable outcomes. Created in 2018 by a voter-approved measure, the SCWP holds environmental water quality regulatory compliance at its center yet requires that these investments provide multiple additional benefits including reliable water supplies, urban greening, climate adaptation, living-wage work, and meaningful careers, among countless other potential benefits. The Program has fourteen goals described in the two authorizing Flood Control District Code sections. To best navigate the complex interdependency of many of these goals and the lack of industry-standard practices or metrics for certain types of benefits, the Los Angeles County Flood Control District is evolving the program through ongoing adaptive management with efforts like the Metrics UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability 2; UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, 2Stantec, 1UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, 2UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, 2SourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Apr 2024DOI10.2175/193864718825159389Volume / Issue Content sourceCollection Systems and Stormwater ConferenceCopyright2024Word count17