Episode 54: Water Advocacy and Implementation
“Once wells go dry, they just don’t come back with a rain or even this wet year, they are often gone! And when you have a whole community on private wells looking at how to build back—we can’t just rely on single wells in this new hydrology and climate. We need to invest in the infrastructure that should have been there all along: a centralized water system.”
A conversation with Laurel Firestone (State Water Resources Control Board) about water governance, leadership, and policy implementation in CA. Released June 2, 2023.
guests on the show
Laurel Firestone
Laurel Firestone was appointed to the State Water Resources Control Board in 2019 and reappointed by Governor Newsom in February 2023. Prior to joining the Board, Laurel co-founded and co-directed, from 2006-2019, the Community Water Center, a statewide non-profit environmental justice organization based in California's Central Valley and Central Coast. Her career has focused on ensuring all Californians have access to safe, clean, and affordable drinking water, and building increased diversity, equity, and inclusivity into water decision-making.
Laurel has received a variety of awards and recognitions for her work, including the James Irvine Foundation's Leadership Award in 2018, and the Gary Bellow Public Service Award by the Harvard Law School in 2013.
Laurel served on the Tulare County Water Commission from 2007-2012, as well as a variety of state policy advisory committees. She has partnered with universities to develop research and clinical programs to further the human right to water, and written articles and publications related to drinking water and the environment.
Laurel graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and holds a B.A. magna cum laude in Environmental Studies from Brown University.
TRANSCRIPT
Sam Sandoval
Bienvenidos a Water Talk. In today's episode we’re excited to have the opportunity to talk with Laurel Firestone. Lauren is a board member of the California State Water Resources Control Board, appointed in 2019 by Governor Gavin Newsom, and then reappointed in 2023.
Previously, she co founded and co-directed the Community Water Center, a nonprofit environmental justice organization focused on access to safe, clean and affordable drinking water in the Central Valley and the Central Coast of California. In 2018, Laurel and Susanna De Anda received the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award. Laurel graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, and from Environmental Studies from Brown University. And we are really looking forward to talking to her.
She has been on my radar for quite a lot of time. An advocate and organizer that has always worked with the people and that has always [had] her boots on the ground, that has been talking with all these different people that have been suffer[ing] for the lack of safe, affordable clean water in the Central Valley. And someone that when actually crosses lines. [She] went from this advocate part now into the government helping from within. And I don't know someone that I'm really looking forward to talk [to]. And Mallika, what about you?
Mallika Nocco
Yeah, I'm super excited to speak with Laurel today. And I think getting to know the work that Laurel has been doing and understand her story a little bit more. I don't know, it makes me kind of think back to when we talked to Joaquin, who's in a similar role with the State Water Resources Control Board. And I just like to hear a lot about the connections that drew people to water. And then the work that they did on the ground, right.
So it's just interesting when somebody goes from doing this really targeted work with, in this case, the Community Water Center, and then zooming out. It's almost like seeing the whole thing…going to the state level, and then thinking about just a myriad of issues for the whole state like droughts, flooding, the human right to water, just all of it. I think, from what I've heard, Laurel is one of the most visionary people that we have working on water today in our state. And I'm really curious to just hear some of her ideas and hear what she has to say.
Sam Sandoval
And in addition, so the parallels with Joaquin Esquivel, in terms of being in a similar position, the two of them work together. Also with Felicia Marcus, who was also in that role, we heard from Felicia, from the previous drought, the 2012-2016 drought and how she was working on that position as a water board member. And now with Laurel Firestone, perhaps the other part of the drought, the last drought, 2019-1022 drought that we experienced. So anyway, for me, there are also a lot of parallels. Yes, Laurel Firestone, a very smart, very brilliant water person in our state, we should be very lucky. We should be very proud to have her. And without any further ado, let's have a conversation with Laurel.
Hey, we're really looking forward to talk[ing] with you, Laurel. Bienvenida.
Laurel Firestone
Thank you. I'm excited to talk with you all.
Mallika Nocco
Welcome, Laurel. We noticed that since very early on in your career, you have always been an advocate for water. Can you share with us just your path towards water in California and just what made you really interested in water and also environmental justice?
Laurel Firestone
Yeah, so when I first started in California, I had just graduated from law school and I was looking to work in areas where there was really a need for attorneys and folks that had really been under-resourced. I was attracted to the San Joaquin Valley. I moved down there right after law school and met Susanna De Anda, who is now the Executive Director of Community Water Center, but co-founded it with me and we started working with communities that didn't have access to safe drinking water.
It was something that families were concerned about, they had seen water coming out brown smelling like sewage both in their home and in their kids school, and really weren't getting answers about what was going on. And it was mothers basically pulling together other parents in their living room to try to figure out what to do and how to get answers and safe water for their kids. And it was clear to Susanna and I at the time that this was much more widespread than one community.
We heard from community after community in the area that this was an issue that lack of access to safe drinking water in their home–sometimes lack of water altogether–was really a chronic issue in many of these communities. And something that wasn't able to necessarily be changed immediately. It was something people had tried to work on, but the types of projects that were needed really took decades to do.
And so one of the things Susanna and I felt strongly about was that if we weren't going to support communities, we really needed to have a center that could be more than just a campaign or short term support, but a kind of long term partner. I think one of the really more formative stories for me was in that community, it was Ducor whose water was coming out brown. It is one of the first communities we worked with. It was really a lesson to me in how much water issues are really just about our human institutions, our society.
It's really a reflection of the same power dynamics and systems that we have across all sorts of issues. It's often really magnified and can be very concrete in water. So for example, in Ducor, the local groundwater had been contaminated with nitrate after decades of intensive agriculture and fertilizer. And so they had drilled a deeper well to avoid the nitrate. And there they had manganese and hydrogen sulfide, which was causing the color and smell of the water. And that was part of the issue.
But really, that could have been addressed if the system had been maintained and flushed and chlorinated properly. So the most immediate issue was really that human system of who's responsible for maintaining the system, who's responsible for ensuring that the system is maintained, that people are getting information, that the folks that are served water are getting information and then able to hold accountable and get the service that they need. And so it was really a lesson in even these really tangible, brown smelly water isn't just an issue of technology, it's at least as much an issue of structure/governance/institution and the sort of human systems.
Sam Sandoval
So you were seeing the need for a permanent group that actually will deal with this from the community point of view and actually being boots on the ground. I know that you also were involved in key issues related with water and East Porterville, that that was all over the news in the second to last drought. So could you talk with us about East Porterville and how that evolved?
Laurel Firestone
East Porterville is like many communities and that there was never adequate investment in that community to get a centralized water system at all, with folks on private domestic wells. And really a lot of infrastructure in the community, there was never real investment. In fact, the Tulare County General Plan kind of local land use planning document had designated 15 communities in the county that were specifically targeted to not receive investment in public infrastructure, because they were considered non viable.
All of those happen to be low income communities, communities of color and unincorporated areas. And those are the same communities that we see today don't have adequate drinking water and wastewater services, as well as things like stormwater and it's really tragic, but not surprising in many ways, that in the floods and these storms this year that those same communities that haven't had safe drinking water and reliable water access are also the ones that are being flooded and have been hardest hit with these storms. So we actually saw that in East Porterville and Allensworth and Alpaugh.
East Porterville, in particular in the last drought, was really an example of communities on the frontlines of climate change. They're the most vulnerable domestic wells often were shallow. In the drought, they're often the first to go dry. And we saw widespread through the community, household wells going dry. We had folks from the community organizing to get water temporarily, eventually, there were tanks that were provided to homes, but folks were having to take showers in the church parking lot, there wasn't enough water for things like fire protection. So one house burned down. It lasted a really long time.
Once wells go dry, they don't just come back with a rain, even this year, they're often gone. And when you have a whole community on private wells, looking at how to build back what the state and and locals really are seeing is that we can't just rely on single wells, in this new hydrology and climate we need to invest in the infrastructure that should have been there to begin with: a centralized water system where it can connect to the city that it's really a part of. It may be in a different boundary, but if you were driving through, there's no separation physically. But yet, because of that institutional difference between what's in the city and what's out, you can see that infrastructure and that basic access to services, there's really extreme disparities.
So that was really one of the drivers for community residents organized, both getting relief and that long term solution, the state funded and completed a project to do a centralized water system, connect it to the city, but also try to get, ultimately, community advocacy led to a lot of the momentum to pass the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Because what we saw was, that's really the tip of the iceberg.
We saw 1000s of wells going dry and even public water systems having to lower their wells. And so it was really a wake up call that we needed to get our groundwater under control. And it was community residents who are dealing with the stress of not having water in their home, that were also driving, taking off time work, driving or getting rides up to Sacramento, just to testify to be able to pass some more systemic law that could help, if not prevent what happened to their community and other communities in the valley.
Mallika Nocco
That's such meaningful work. And it kind of leads into the next thing we wanted to talk with you about, which is related to the human right to water in California. And we know that you played an important role and of course, also the CWC to organize and fight for the passage of the human right to water, AB 685, which is the right to safe, clean, affordable and accessible water. And we were wondering if you can share with us some of your advocacy work for passing the human right to water, but then also like what your vision is. What are the next steps? What do we need to do beyond the passage of the bill?
Laurel Firestone
For us, we had been working, Susanna and I, with communities since 2005, like Ducor, which I talked about, that had been told that it was fine to have brown water. That's just the way it was around here. And it's fine for coffee, stop complaining. And so I think one of the important roles of passing the human right to water was community members, not just in Ducor, but in the hundreds of communities in California, and in communities in urban places like Maywood in LA who had brown water coming out and also were told that they should stop complaining it was just how it was here.
For community members to say no, we have a right to access to safe drinking water just like everyone else in California and that is an expectation that we have a right to expect. It also really drastically, I think changed the awareness in Sacramento that there are communities without safe drinking water. There's always a focus on the 95% of Californians that do have access to safe and reliable drinking water when they turn on their tap. And the 5% that don't, or that are on the brink of not, in other cases, have really been glossed over and ignored. And so this was really a fundamental shift.
And so one of the opportunities that I've had now as a member of the State Water Board is to look at all the ways that even just our agency is just one state agency, how many decisions go into what's needed to actually achieve the human right to water in California. So for example, we're charged with regulating the Safe Drinking Water Act, the regulatory standards that every system has to meet in a community in California, no matter where you live.
If you have water coming out of your tap, that's provided by a community water system, you all have to meet the same standards. And so one of the things is both setting those standards, how we set those standards and how we enforce and implement that. We're also charged with regulating sources of pollution to protect and restore the water that we use for our drinking water sources around water quality. We saw for decades that nitrate was really not adequately regulated to protect water quality as one example. All of the work that we do around regulating dischargers really is often part of this source water protection.
We also have a role in, and are charged with protecting, reasonable use and efficient use of water supplies so that communities can access water for basic health and human safety needs. And administering our water rights system, which impacts the amount and cost of water that water systems pay for access to water from rivers and reservoirs, even before it's treated. So that's been particularly important in a drought. And were charged with administering billions of dollars of grants and loans to invest in infrastructure for local and regional drinking water and clean water projects. And that really makes a difference often between communities being able to have infrastructure or not. Those are just some of the core functions we have. And each of those is critical to achieving the human right to water.
But certainly, that's just one agency. And we see many agencies across the state, certainly at the state level with the Department of Water Resources. But also, increasingly, more of the regional and local agencies have really embraced this framework. And at the end of the day, what really matters is what's going on on the ground. And that's really, the implementation is really at the local agencies, we at the state are really partners, and we set regulatory standards and enforce things. But in terms of the provision day to day, that's really at the local level. And so I think that that goes to the importance of just community and local agency and allies working hand in hand to try to make this a reality.
Sam Sandoval
Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Laurel, you really touch a lot of the important work that all of you do there. Yeah, the safe and affordable funding for equity and resilient, safer and a lot of that fund that is managed. And as you're talking, I see more hope, which what occurred in 2012, which it was the recognition to now actually put in a lot of action. And also having people engage agencies, local agencies embracing this.
Switching the gears a bit, so in the 2012-2016 drought, you were actually working in the Community Water Center and pushing for a lot of changes. One of those was SGMA and then later in the 2020-2021 last drought, now you were on the other side of the desk of the government and tell us, what the Water Board did, in terms of these droughts, not only the drought, now the floods that we have?
Laurel Firestone
Yeah, well, I think one critical thing was that in terms of the many steps that have needed to happen since passage of the Human Right to Water Act, one of the most fundamental, as you mentioned, is passage of the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Act and creation of the safer program at the waterboard. That I do think has really been a game changer for us in terms of what we've been able to do at the state. It provides $130 million annually, which is flexible, in addition to whatever infrastructure dollars there are from either federal or state bonds or revolving funds. And so what that's done is allowed us to kind of fill the gaps and leverage that infrastructure dollars that's there. And it also means that we're more flexible, that are able to respond to emergencies in ways that we didn't have that kind of funding before.
So we have been spending millions and millions of dollars on drought relief, both in terms of domestic well communities and getting hauled water, getting our systems down and folks on the ground so that immediately there's there's responders that can get those, those tanks in place. But also, in some ways, more importantly, and is supporting communities that are serving a whole community that may have seen a well go dry or infrastructure break down. This happened a lot, unfortunately, in this last drought and our resources and folks on the ground were able to respond in ways that they haven't been able to in the past because of those funding resources and the flexibility in that.
Since the 2013-2015 phase of the drought there was a lot of learning around that small rural communities don't have the same kind of water supply contingency plans and drought planning ahead of time to both prevent, and respond quickly to water shortages. And so that's something that's continuing, but I think it has improved since the last drought, there is a lot more planning and monitoring going on. We have a whole drought watch list that we have, where we're working with communities to make sure that they're monitoring their well levels on a daily, weekly basis. So they can see before it starts getting too low, what's going on whether they're at risk, so we can prevent emergencies, rather than wait till something waters gone entirely to be able to respond.
I think another big issue for us is looking at groundwater levels. And just that continued decline, unfortunately. Especially with drought folks, just despite the passage of SGMA, there's a period of 20 years that folks are doing planning and projects to try to get things… at a sustainable level. But in the meantime, there's been a drought and folks have been really trying to access water however they could. We've seen 1000s of more wells go dry, even since the passage of SGMA. And so looking at more long term, how are we supporting local agencies to be able to achieve that sustainable groundwater management is increasingly a major focus. And especially with recent developments, because it's kind of shifting into our venue now.
Sam Sandoval
I think it was in April's board meeting when DWR and you got together [to analyze] the different DSPs that were submitted and DWR mentioned what were approved and what were not approved. I have to confess, I was actually watching the meeting from my computer. And it was, for me, eye opening. As you're mentioning, I need to highlight this. There were still 1000s of wells going dry after the passage of SGMA. It is just impressive. And we talked about land subsidence. That's another one and many, many things. So now…it really is coming to DWR [to bring] the Water Board to the front. What were those regions that were doing that their DSP was not deemed adequate? Do you want to share with us your perspective on this part of the SGMA saga…that we're having here in California.
Laurel Firestone
I mean, the challenge with SGMA is that from the beginning there was a recognition that there's a lot of areas in California, primarily in the San Joaquin Valley, that are in such critical overdraft, that…turning that around isn't going to be overnight. And so there was this recognition that there needs to be a plan that's developed collectively, locally to figure out how we can achieve that sustainability. It is really challenging to do in these areas when there's such extreme overdraft. And there's not a lot of water sources to do recharge.
We're so lucky right now, but we know that there's more and more dryers come in, and then these periods of extreme precipitation on the other side, and figuring out how to achieve sustainability and really change how we're managing groundwater in when water levels are dropping, we're seeing towns subside, and wells go dry. It's just incredibly challenging. And so I think the state and the state is really looking at how can we try to set folks up for success.
The way that it's set up is that the Department of Water Resources has been working with plans to try to help them get a plan set up that can be approved. There's six, so far, that have been deemed inadequate. And so what that means is that then it gets kicked to us to be that kind of backstop to say, well if you can't get the plans that you need and the actions that you need in place, the state needs to come in, and at least make sure that we're that we have a plan to get us there.
That's not meant to take the place of locals, that's really meant to be a backstop, as locals are continuing to implement and develop a plan that can be more locally driven. But we can't, in the meantime, let water levels and communities households, and critical infrastructure continue to be impacted.
Mallika Nocco
Laurel, I have a quick follow up. That's so interesting it’s like the state is coming in and mentoring the communities that need assistance with their plans. And I'm curious what that looks like. As that's happening, is it like, well let's look at the supply end and what we think we're going to generate in this plan. Let's maybe revise this particular part of it. What does that exactly look like?
Laurel Firestone
I think the locals would probably not characterize it as mentoring from what we do, because we're a regulatory agency. And it's interesting, the way that the state is split up, the Department of Water Resources has been trying to do that mentoring role. And so throughout has been meeting regularly with agencies to help develop plans, give feedback [and] once plans were submitted, did an evaluation and identified the things that are incomplete, we're gonna give you a chance to fix these, [they] met a lot to explain and provided some guidance.
But there were still six that weren't able to meet that. And now, just to be clear, the majority of areas, even in that critical overdraft areas throughout the state, because there's many beyond the San Joaquin Valley, were able to get plans that were deemed adequate. But I think the level and pace of subsidence, and, frankly, the number of domestic wells that would be impacted in a lot of the areas in the San Joaquin Valley, it's just really severe.
So I have to say, I have a lot of sympathy for the folks on the ground that have been trying to develop these plans. And one of the things we've been trying to do is really work on from the water rights perspective, what is realistic to build in and how might we support the potential to bring water in for recharge to recover in these periods? But there's really limited ability to do that. I think the governor has laid out in his water supply strategy that we're going to see actually a loss of about 10% of water supply, and then we have this whiplash between extremes.
So while everyone would love to say, we can just import more water, I think the opposite is true. And so what that means is we need to cut back on our water use really significantly. And that's going to mean unfortunately, not being able to do the same kind of land uses that we've been able to do when we haven't had those restrictions. And so, it's really hard for locals to say, you can't pump water from your well at the pace that you're used to.
So sometimes it's necessary for the state to come in and say, you guys need to start reporting how much you're pumping from your wells. And this is going to be the limits that are needed to achieve that sustainability. So that's our role at the State Water Board is where they're not able to do that themselves, for us to do that piece.
And at the same time the Department of Water Resources and our staff on the water right side, and water quality side, is trying to work with plans to get projects in place. One of the things we've been really trying to figure out is mitigation programs for domestic wells. But at the end of the day, this is going to come down to really hard cuts, and there's going to be really extreme impacts in the San Joaquin Valley. And the idea is, let's figure out how to manage that to optimize that as much as we can to avoid having that fall, as it generally does, on low income communities, communities of color, or these unincorporated areas. So that we can have healthy communities in the Valley and sort of chart a course that's more equitable and optimized for the region.
Mallika Nocco
So Laurel, with all of the challenges that we have in California, what do you think are some of our greatest potentials or greatest opportunities to make positive impacts on water? And are there any kind of missing gaps or anything that you're thinking would be interesting to pursue in policy or in science that we should be thinking about and aware of?
Laurel Firestone
I think you can't work in water, and especially work on any kind of environmental justice issues, if you're not optimistic as a person. And really what gives me optimism is when I see folks from communities coming together to try to advocate or develop projects in their communities. And for the broader communities that are like theirs throughout the state.
Some of those specific areas, I do feel real genuine optimism about our SAFER program, and being able to address those communities that have not had access to safe water for decades or more. It's never happening fast enough and there's a lot of pieces we're working on in terms of improving our funding processes. But there's also more resources than there’s ever been. There’s a real political will to focus and prioritize those communities that have been disinvested in and left out, or have been excluded. And make sure that that's where we're prioritizing. utilizing our authorities, utilizing our resources.
We've seen hundreds of communities now receiving assistance that they hadn't before. I think there's 40% of Californians that didn't have access to safe drinking water in 2019, now have access to it today and 2023. And I see a lot more coming. Because a lot of what we've had to do with this program is invest in things like the planning and project development and community development or projects so that our funding can be used for the right types of projects for connecting communities together, and being able to accelerate that, but that planning has been a big focus of the first few years. So I'm hoping to see us get these projects over the finish line soon.
I also feel like there's just a lot more recognition of water equity and inequity in this state. The state Water Board passed a racial equity resolution, both recognizing how our agency and our water systems in general have contributed and continue to contribute to disparities in access and that is something that we've created a really deliberate action plan that we're bringing into all of our programs. And so I'm optimistic about that.
One of the core pieces of that is and needs to be engagement with communities throughout these decisions early, and then throughout the decision making processes that affect them. And so I think, lastly, and in terms of what can be done going forward, as listeners are thinking about that, participation, either within processes through public comment through partnerships, in projects, and decision making, is critical on the really local level. That's the only way things get done. And you can have whatever law and policy you want, but if you don't have people on the ground, making it happen, it's not going to.
So that's true, whether it's conservation projects, whether it's drinking water, infrastructure, whether it's restoration, it really takes folks on the ground making that happen. I think if anything that's one of the most important areas of contribution, and then also just increasing representation and service on decision making bodies and within the water sector.
I think we're starting to see a continuing focus on the need to have better representation of demographics within the water sector, we have a long way to go. And then definitely on decision making bodies themselves. Those aren't necessarily easy positions, I can say from experience. But I think the more that folks are willing to step into those roles, the more that we're able to achieve what we're trying to achieve in the state.
Sam Sandoval
Thank you, Laurel. I always try to keep my optimism when working in water. And I think that's part of the the attitude and to get projects on the ground, always thinking in water equity or inequities and how we can reduce it. Yeah, increasing representation and get our voice heard. I have to mention that we met a month or two months ago in person, when we were at our event from the Community Water Center. And we got our last session of optimism and recharging our batteries, seeing all those people from the communities telling our story and, and seeing that if they can do it, we can do it.
So in addition to that, we always finish our podcast asking if there is anything else that you want to share with us, or, and most importantly, how can we support your work? How can we support the good work that you're doing?
Laurel Firestone
I think we all have a role to play. Water is really concrete in people's lives. It's something we put in our bodies, it's something we rely on throughout pretty much everything we do. And it also is such a reflection of our society and the systems and sort of human dynamics that we have amongst each other. And so no matter what you work in, I think you have a role to play within water decision making and within the resources you give and with your time and with the resources that you can bring, and expertise.
I am really optimistic that I think there's a growing awareness of the inequities that exist and continue to be perpetuated, and the ways that we can begin to address them. And I also just have seen a growing momentum to have folks from communities represented within decision making structures and I think in some ways, that's what gives me the most optimism.
Sam Sandoval
Gracias, muchas gracias, thanks a lot. Water is a shared resource, so let's protect it together. El agua es de todos, hay que protegerla para todos.