UCLA’s Climate & Wildfire Research Initiative (CWRI) Launches New Research and Policy Working Group on Urban Water Supply-Wildfire Dynamics, led by UCLA’s Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) in partnership with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources’ (UCANR) California Institute for Water Resources
The 2025 Los Angeles fires revealed some of the region's critical vulnerabilities, making clear the need to explore the relationship between water supply and wildfire dynamics.
To address this critical issue, UCLA’s Climate & Wildfire Research Initiative (CWRI) is launching a new Urban Water Supply + Fire working group to function as a research and policy coordination network.
This innovative collaboration, chaired by Greg Pierce, Co-Executive Director of Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI), aims to develop research and policy solutions to challenges related to water supply infrastructure, resilience, and post-fire recovery. This effort formalizes a forum where UCLA can come together and coordinate efforts with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR), through its California Institute for Water Resources.
CWRI’s new Urban Water Supply + Fire working group will be co-led by Faith Kearns, LCI affiliate and expert on water, wildfire, and climate based at Arizona State University; Edith de Guzman, UCANR Water Equity and Adaptation Policy Cooperative Extension Specialist with LCI; and Erik Porse, Director of California Institute for Water Resources. Together, this group of experts will work to advance actionable knowledge and policy recommendations to address these challenges over the next two years.
“The 2025 wildfires exposed significant vulnerabilities at the intersection of water supply and wildfire resilience,” said Pierce. “Thanks to the foresight of the initiative in prioritizing this critical issue, we are now able to bring together the expertise of LCI and UCANR to help address these complex challenges in Los Angeles and other wildfire-prone regions across California.”
This effort has attracted support from the Water Resources Research Act Program, a Federal-State partnership that advances research to aid in the resolution of state and regional water problems. It will serve as a platform for advancing strategies to improve water system resilience, wildfire preparedness, and recovery efforts in California. Over this time, the working group will serve as the central hub of activities of a broader engaged research effort covering the following pressing issues:
- Strengthening drinking water infrastructure resilience,
- Addressing equity in the cost of new investments,
- Ensuring water quality and community trust after fires, and
- Navigating the relationship between wildfire risk, vegetation, and water supply in urban areas.
Modeled after the National Science Foundation’s Research Coordination Network, the Urban Water Supply + Fire working group aims to advance research in emerging or developing areas of science and education by fostering communication, collaboration, and coordination among diverse groups of scientists, engineers, and educators across disciplines, organizations, and borders. The working group will also focus on policy and result in a dynamic and impactful mix of written products and engagement activities. For examples of our prior related work, see FAQs and Nature Water piece, 2025.
