Water, water, water! LASA kicked off the 2019-2020 year with a four-day intensive in August focused on water in LA. We hope you enjoy reading about our time together, especially the portions informed by student reflections.
On Wednesday morning, we introduced ourselves and, to mark The Huntington’s Centennial Celebration, Bill Deverell “introduced” us to Collis, Henry, Archer, and Arabella Huntington. In smaller groups, we created maps of LA, complete with an abstract LA river, LAX, the harbor, and some of the various schools represented by LASA students this year. We’re saving these maps to revisit in May; they’ll help reveal LASA’s impact.
Then, we ventured all over the campus of The Huntington. We talked with visitors to see where they journeyed from and to learn about their experiences of the space – from a scholar from Massachusetts drawn to the rich archives to a pair of influencers/bloggers interested in flowers. We looked for objects created in the 16th century, those created as close to today as possible, and of course, those made in LA. The groups reported on their adventuring as we shared lunch together.
In the afternoon, LASA welcomed our first speaker of the year, Jeffrey Kightlinger, the General Manager of the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) to begin our intensive study of water. LASA student Charlie “loved listening” to Mr. Kightlinger who opened up his eyes to the complexities of delivering water to 19 million people and to planning for future changes in population demands as well as the climate. Lucy added, “It’s easy to assume that governments are doing nothing to mitigate the effects of global warming, but listening to Jeff Kightlinger opened me up to just how much people in California are working to provide concrete solutions to the environmental struggles we might face in the future. It overall made me feel very secure and optimistic about California’s future when it comes to water and climate change.” The conversation covered a wide range of topics from the scale of MWD’s service footprint to issues surrounding the delta, purple pipe, desalinization, safety, and conservation. We are so grateful for Mr. Kightlinger’s time and the information he shared.
We set off on our first site visit Thursday morning. We jumped on our bus to drive to La Verne and MWD’s Weymouth Water Treatment Plant, Water Quality Lab, and (a first for LASA this year) their machine shop. Thanks to Mr. Kightlinger, Steven Hines, and his team, particularly Eduardo who skillfully ushered half of LASA out of the Water Quality Lab when the fire alarms went off.
Daniel P. reflected on the visit; “I always thought LA was this ‘unbreakable’ county by how resilient and widely known it is. However, I was wrong. LA County exists because of water and the people that were able to make it happen. Even still, there are many people who work in giving millions of LA County residents the privilege of water.” Sharef added that the visit provided him an “absolutely amazing insight into the world of water as it relates to city infrastructure. I found myself repeatedly flabbergasted by wave after wave of new info, info that helped shed light on something that was quite new to me.” From quagga muscle removal practices, to the use of ozone for water safety, to repairing and building massive pipes, LASA left La Verne with the kind of knowledge that can only come from an onsite visit.
After lunch at The Huntington, LASA welcomed Annie Mendoza, the Indigenous Waters Program Director for Sacred Places Institute. She presented her ongoing documentary work, “The Aqueduct Between Us.” Katie shared that “Annie’s powerful words and art really conveyed the urgency and injustice of LA’s current water infrastructure issues.” Natalie added, “My favorite part of the few days we spent together. . .was definitely speaking with Annie Mendoza about the Native American perspective on water. I found it not only very interesting, but important that we learn about how colonialism affects so many of the things that many Americans consider to not be worth thinking about.”
Paulina helped to recap and reflect on the day: The trip to Weymouth “showed off how great the water infrastructure of … Los Angeles is, and [Ms. Mendoza added a less discussed] point of view, of how this ‘great’ infrastructure” is connected to our environmental concerns as well as
the costs to native people’s “culture and lifestyle. Moreover, this day particularly peaked my interest because we weren’t simply learning everything from someone” talking about water “who was a third party; not
directly [participating] in it … but we got the opportunity to experience
everything up close – from the treatment to the tasting of the water – and then,” heard from a Tongva scholar “who is incredibly passionate about her culture and treating water as a relative instead of a resource. These juxtaposing viewpoints stimulated many questions and points that were ruminated not only with the fellow LASA students but also friends and family who were a part of that large percentile who just thought that water came from the faucet or the LA river … I grant this to not only be my favorite day of LASA (so far) but also one of my favorite experiences this year.”
Friday came quickly, with an early morning bus trip to the LA river to kayak. “We saw some animals and a lot of foliage,” Daniel M. described. And “our guide [Gary] was also a very interesting person.” Will P. shared, “That day really changed my perspective on the city, and, more specifically, its relationship to nature. Before riding on the river,
I didn’t think that there were any places in LA where you could feel as immersed in nature as I did on that river. However, it also made me think that we, as people and as a city, need to work to make sure that parts of the city like this don’t fall by the wayside.” Katie also felt called to act in response to the trip, “Seeing the natural beauty and human-generated waste in contrast with one another made me want to aid efforts to conserve the river.” Willy A. enjoyed the time particularly because “I felt like I was working with a closer cohort.”
After lunch in the park, we wrapped up our summer time devoted to water. When asked what questions remain, Kim offered, “Questions I have now are related to the destruction of these natural rivers and how that impacted communities who lived around the river. Also, what would LA look like now if we hadn’t altered the rivers and there were less. . .people in LA? Lastly, I want to know the relationship between water and the homeless.” We hope to consider these questions and more raised by LASA in the months to come.
Saturday morning took LASA to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank in Vernon. We worked a shift gleaning produce, mainly cabbages with some boxes of carrots and pears thrown into the mix. Along with our co-volunteers, we sorted 22,000 pounds of food. Given the critically important work of the Food Bank that we learned about via their introductory video, we were honored to help out. “I’ve always wanted to volunteer and give my part to the community,” Melissa shared, “and I am very grateful that LASA allowed me to finally experience this.”
We returned to The Huntington to share a final summer lunch together and discuss the week as a group. Maya M. concluded, “I emerged from the week feeling like I have enough information about water to choose where I stand on the relevant issues and how I might be able to explore being part of the solutions. I am excited to further research the projects currently underway seeking to make the water industry more sustainable and environmentally friendly in the city I call home.”
LASA’s summer kickoff set the foundation for a terrific year together. Students reflected on two of LASA’s core principles: building community and presenting LA as a complex place – with multiple stakeholders and plans. Natalie shared, “I found my first few days at LASA to be fascinating for a wide variety of reasons. The first was the fact that I was able to meet other people outside of the part of LA I tend to spend the most time in.” Charlie echoed, “I was just really amazed by how all excited all the students were and all the energy and passion we all had for learning more about our city.” Helen’s words send us into September: “I am excited to continue to get to know my classmates, teachers, and city.”
